From Darkness to Aureate
by aliasfan
Summary: [COMPLETE] Sora, along with his sister, Iqui, embark on an epic journey along with Goofy, Donald and a young sorceress from the castle named Vern. Will Vern get in the way of Sora and Kairi's feelings for each other?
1. Is Any of This For Real or Not?

AN: Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic! I hope that you people will read my fanfic! It's a remake of the first KH but things are different! No clichés! It's not boring either! Please R&R! Thank you!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I want to own Sora, but I can't! (  
  
Chapter One: Is Any of This For Real...or Not?  
  
"That's the fifth time I had that dream!" yelled Sora furiously.  
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Kairi. "Oh yah, that dream of yours."  
  
"It seemed so real! It was real...I think." said Sora. He had battled Shadows and Darkside many times, but was unsure that if it was a dream, it would become a reality.  
  
A small, brown haired 9-year-old girl approached Sora and Kairi. "Poor Sora, 14 years old and he still has nightmares!" She whispers to Kairi, "Watch out Kairi, he may still wet the bed, too!" Kairi giggled.  
  
"What is she telling you? Leave us alone Iqui!" demanded Sora. Iqui skipped away laughing. "That's what I get for having a sister!"  
  
"Come on Sora, forget about Iqui. Right now we have to work on our raft!"  
  
"So now all of a sudden you want to work?" Riku says as he walks up to his two best friends. "You two have been daydreaming all afternoon!"  
  
"Sorry, Riku. I just can't stop thinking about my dream." explained Sora.  
  
"I understand..." said Riku sympathetically. "...Not! Come on guys, let's just get to work."  
  
"I don't feel like working on the raft anymore." groaned Kairi. "Can't we just work on it tomorrow."  
  
"Sure, why not?" said Riku. The three friends walked to their homes, not knowing that they would not be able to work on their raft, for their lives would be changed forever. Sora lay awake on his bed. "I can't go to sleep. I don't want to have that dream again!"  
  
"Hey Sora, talkin' to yourself again?" asked Iqui as she threw some dirty clothes on Sora's head.  
  
"Ugh, get your smelly clothes off of me! Man, when was the last time you did laundry."  
  
"Uh...Sora, those are your clothes!" snickered Iqui. Sora let out a big sigh. "Will you please just leave me alone?" Iqui didn't respond.  
  
"Hello, Iqui, I'm talking to you!" Just then, Sora realized she was staring at something. He followed her eyes out the window and saw a huge storm unlike any other.  
  
"I gotta see this!" said Iqui and she hurried outside.  
  
"Wait! You can't go out there!" yelled Sora, chasing after her. As he ran outside, he saw Riku on the pier. "Riku, what're you doing? We gotta get out of the storm!"  
  
"No. I will not be afraid," said Riku, motionless.  
  
"What are you talking about, you-"  
  
"The darkness cannot get me." Riku was swallowed up by the darkness, and in his place lay a strange object. Sora picked it up, and immediately Shadows were upon him.  
  
"The...the creatures...from my dream!!"  
  
"Sora?" It was Iqui. "Sora, I'm afraid."  
  
"Don't be. I know what to do."  
  
"You do?" asked Iqui.  
  
"I've already done this five times. Just stay near me to keep safe, okay?" But Iqui did not respond. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen. Sora battled the Heartless. Soon all of the Shadows were gone.  
  
"I did it!" yelled Sora. Just then, Darkside came up from the ground. "Oh great, I forgot about you!" Sora fought off Darkside. Darkside seemed a little harder in real life, but Sora did not know how much strength he had possessed now that he had the Keyblade. As soon as Darkside was defeated, Sora blacked out.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
In a place both close and far away, a magician was in distress. "Goofy, what are we going to do! The King is gone!" Donald exclaimed.  
  
"Well, we'll have to go find him." it was Vern, the King's assistant. She was young, 15 years old, and she sometimes let her emotions get the best of her.  
  
"You? Oh, you're not coming with! It's too dangerous. King Mickey said that we have to find the Keyblade Master, meaning Goofy and me. We'll go on the gummi ship." said Donald.  
  
"I wanna come too! If you don't, I guess I'll just have to cast you into oblivion." said Vern slyly.  
  
"She is a sorceress, Donald. Maybe Vern can help us." remarked Goofy.  
  
"Not with her threatening you. Vern, you are very young. I still think you need to learn a lot more, about your powers and how to handle them," said Queen Minnie, stepping into the room. "But if you want to help, even I cannot stop you." The three settle into the gummi ship.  
  
"Our first trip will be to Traverse Town. I hear there's a guy named Squall Leonhart who may be able to help us." said Donald. He turned on the engine and they zoomed away.  
  
********************************************************** 


	2. Meeting a Hottie

AN: Thanks everyone for all your reviews so far! But to Selphie Louise who gave me the constructive criticism: I already wrote out this whole fanfic, so I won't be able to take in your advice this time. As for what you said, I didn't want to write out everything that happened at the beginning of KH. Lots of people don't do that, plus since you already know the story of Kingdom Hearts, why should I waste time typing every little thing that happened? And anyways, this is a KH remake, but that doesn't mean that everything has to be the same as in the game!!! In this fanfic I don't even go to all the worlds in KH. I'm currently working on this fanfic's sequel, so I'll take your review into consideration for that one, but as for this one, you'll have to read it like it is!! I told you before, this was my first fanfic, so be kind!! I must admit the story is moving kind of fast and I'm sorry for that. But it does get more into detail and in depth with characters later on! Please keep reading!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I can own Iqui and Vern since they are OCs (original characters) but that's it!! I can probably own Sora's underwear too (hopefully, and if they're clean). By the way Selphie Louise, don't dis my man Sora!!!!!!  
  
Chapter Two: Meeting a Hottie  
  
"Ugh, where am I? What is this place?" Sora asked himself. It was a strange town, definitely not Destiny Islands.  
  
"Still talking to yourself, eh Sora?"  
  
"Iqui! What happened?"  
  
"I just remember you telling me to stay with you, then I ended up here. Sora, is this a dream?" asked Iqui.  
  
"It can't be. Whenever I had a dream, I always woke up in Destiny Islands after I beat that huge monster, but this time I ended up here."  
  
"There's some shops open. Maybe someone will know what happened!" They walked up to a shop marked 'Accessories'. There they met Cid.  
  
"Hey folks, what can I do for you-oh...it's just a kid." said Cid.  
  
"I'm not a kid, old man! Anyways, I need your help. My sister and I were on our island, and now we ended up here. There are these strange creatures popping up everywhere. I don't know what's going on exactly." explained Sora.  
  
"Well me either kid. I guess you'll just have to find help somewhere else." Sora and Iqui exited the Accessory Shop and decided to just look around.  
  
"Well hello there, I've never seen you here before." A tall man approached them. He didn't look too friendly, and he carried a huge sword.  
  
"Uh, we're lost," said Sora, hesitantly.  
  
"Let me see that Keyblade."  
  
"See the what?" asked Sora.  
  
"The Keyblade, the weapon in your hand, give it to me." the man demanded.  
  
"Oh, this...never!"  
  
"Sora, what are you doing. You're going to get hurt!" warned Iqui.  
  
"Stay back Iqui, he's the only one that's gonna get hurt!" Sora lunged towards the man, but he jumped out of the way. With one slice of the man's sword, Sora was down.  
  
"What'd you do to my brother?!" Iqui screamed.  
  
"Don't worry, just come with me." the man picked up Sora. Iqui had nowhere to go, and Sora did say to stay with him, so she followed the man. He led her to a hotel.  
  
"Finally, Leon! I thought you'd never find him!" said Yuffie.  
  
"You were expecting Sora?" asked Iqui.  
  
"Not exactly. You see, we were looking for the Keyblade master. He is who we were looking for." said Leon. Soon Sora woke up after being knocked out.  
  
"Wha-what's going on?" asked Sora.  
  
"Sora, you are the Keyblade Master. You were chosen to fight off the Heartless." explained Yuffie.  
  
"Heartless?" asked Sora.  
  
"Those creatures you fought off."  
  
"Oh boy, here come some now. Yuffie, take Iqui to Aerith, Sora and I will take care of these guys." said Leon. He whipped out his sword and Sora drew out his Keyblade, and they were ready to fight.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
"Wow, I've never been to a place like this before! It's so...city-like." said Vern. She admired the lights and buildings in Traverse Town.  
  
"Come on, we have no time to waste! We've got to find this Squall guy," said Donald, losing his temper.  
  
"Jeez, gimme a break! I wanna explore this place but at my own leisure." said Vern.  
  
"Suit yourself, but Goofy's comin' with me." Donald looked to see Goofy walking off with Vern. "Goofy! Come back here!"  
  
"Sorry Vern, King's order. I gotta help look for Squall and the Keyblade Master." Goofy trotted back to Donald. "Just be careful, Vern." Vern wandered up some stairs and down a dark path. Blocking her way was a tower of boxes. She used her magic to cast it aside. When the boxes cleared her vision, Vern saw tons of little creatures, and fighting them off was a man and a boy-the boy looking really cute.  
  
"I bet these are the guys we've been looking for," Vern said to herself as she stared at the Keyblade. "If I find them first, Donald'll have to give me more respect!" After the Heartless were gone, Vern ran up to Leon and Sora.  
  
"Um, excuse me? I'm looking for the Keyblade Master and a guy named Squall Leonhart."  
  
"I'm Leon. My name used to be Squall Leonhart, but I changed it."  
  
"And I'm Sora, the Keyblade master."  
  
"Well, hello there." Vern blushed. She had never liked a guy before, especially when she just met him.  
  
"What did you come here for?" Leon asked impatiently.  
  
"Huh? Oh yah I came with...those guys..." Vern said as she came out of her daze. She pointed to Donald and Goofy as they walked up to her.  
  
"The King said we had to find the Keyblade Master and stick with him." said Donald.  
  
"I guess that means I'm coming, too." Vern said excitedly.  
  
"Me, too," Everyone whipped around to see Iqui.  
  
"Who's she?" Goofy asked.  
  
"Who? Oh her, she's just my sister." Sora said as if Iqui was nothing.  
  
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Iqui asked.  
  
"You can talk for yourself Iqui, you have a mouth!"  
  
"Oh, Iqui, nice to meet you. I'm Vern, sorceress of the Kingdom. This is Donald the magician, and Goofy the knight."  
  
"Well, this has been nice, but I've got better things to do then chat and have tea and crumpets." Leon grumbled as he went into the hotel to find Aerith and Yuffie.  
  
"Come on, I guess the five of us will be stuck together." said Donald.  
  
"Wait, before we leave, there's just one thing. You never thanked me for finding Sora." Vern said.  
  
"If you didn't find him, we would have anyway!"  
  
"Well you said I couldn't do anything and it would be too dangerous. Well it's not. I'd just like to get a little gratitude for once!" Vern started to cry and ran off to the Third District.  
  
"Man, is she emotional or what?!" Donald said.  
  
"Hey, we can't just leave her here!" Then there was a scream. "Vern! Something's wrong, let's go!" Sora said as they entered the Third District. it was the Guard Armor, a Heartless Boss. Sora fought as hard as he could, while Donald and Vern helped. Goofy protected Iqui from the Guard Armor. After he was destroyed, the five boarded the gummi ship and it flew away.  
  
"You are not going back out there!" Sora said to Iqui.  
  
"Why not? I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself!"  
  
"You sound like another girl I know," Donald said, glancing at Vern.  
  
"Sora's right. You're very young. And you have no way to defend yourself. We need Goofy to help us defeat the Heartless. He might not always be there to protect you." Vern explained.  
  
"I don't care if it's dangerous! I wanna go out there too!!" Iqui whined.  
  
"Man, you're so annoying! I wish Kairi had come here instead of you!" Sora said.  
  
"Kairi? Who's Kairi?" Vern asked.  
  
"She's his...girlfriend!!!"  
  
"No she's not! She's just a...uh...friend." Sora was blushing. Vern could tell it was the same look she had had when she first saw him.  
  
Iqui pressed on. "If she's just a friend, then why didn't you say you wanted to be with Riku?"  
  
"Because Kairi's name popped in my head first, that's all."  
  
"I wonder why!" Iqui said. But Vern did not want to know why. She was glad that Kairi was not there and Iqui was. An annoying sister is way better than a beautiful girl whom your crush likes.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
As I said in my author's note, I already have this fanfic typed and am currently working on the sequel. At times I'll leave you at cliffies (everyone likes those right?) but you won't have to wait long or worry! Please R&R! 


	3. Don't Deal With Fat, Grumpy Women

AN: Hello everyone! Thanks again for everyone that's reviewed. Selphie Louise, I thank you that you're still going to read this fanficcy and I'm sorry if I sounded mean in the last chappie. I know you're trying to help me and I was stupidly just being all defensive. Anywhoo, I hope more people will R&R! I just took the ACT's *shudder* so I'm a little tired, but at least all I have to do is write the author's note and then post the chappie. For the ACT's I hope I did okay. I did really good on the English and Math but I had a hard time with the Reading and Science portions. I'll let you know my results when I get them (my goal is a 27-I don't think I reached it). But anyways, on with the story....  
  
Disclaimer: Me no own Kingdom Hearts.  
  
Spanish Time: Okay, I'm taking Spanish right now. I'm just going to brush up on some of the things I know, and at the same time, tell you about myself. Me llamo Holly. Tengo dieciseis anos. Me gusta jugar videojuegos. Tengo una gemela. Se llama Heather. Translation: My name is Holly. I am 16 years old. I like to play video games. I have a twin. Her name is Heather. Now enough of this-on with the show!!!  
  
Chapter Three: Don't Deal with Fat, Grumpy Women  
  
"Alright, we're about to land. Hold on." Donald said. The gummi ship landed in a garden. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vern walked out into the strange world. They entered a garden room where "court" was in session.  
  
"You have been found guilty of high treason." said a card, the five of hearts.  
  
A little girl named Alice stood to be judged. "But, I didn't do anything!"  
  
"Yes you did! Off with her head!" yelled the Queen of Hearts.  
  
"Show me the evidence against me," said the little girl.  
  
"Well, there is none. But who else did it? Off with her-"  
  
"Wait! You can't do this! This girl could be innocent. There's no proof!" Sora yelled, jumping out from behind a bush.  
  
"What?!" said the Queen of Hearts furiously.  
  
"I mean...uh...your majesty...if you would let me and my friends look for evidence as to who did the crime, will you put off the beheading for now?" Sora reasoned.  
  
"What? Well, I guess so. But if Alice is found guilty, she will not be the only one to die." Sora left the Queen's presence and went to his friends.  
  
"Come on, we have to find evidence defending Alice. If not, we'll both be beheaded!" The four walked into the Lotus Forest. There they found lots of evidence, including footprints, an antennae, and the Heartless insignia.  
  
"It must have been the Heartless! Let's bring the evidence back to the Queen." Goofy said. They brought back the evidence they had, but apparently it wasn't good enough.  
  
"I've never seen these things here before. You're trying to trick me! Cards, get them!" the Queen screamed. Alice was sent up in a cage by the crankshaft. Goofy warded off the cards while Donald, Sora, and Vern destroyed the Crank Tower. Finally the defenseless tower was destroyed and the cage came down.  
  
"Alice, are you alri-...Alice is gone!" Vern said.  
  
"What? This can't be!" Sora said.  
  
"Forget about her. We have to look for King Mickey." Donald said.  
  
"And I have to look for Riku and Kairi." They decided to look around, and after a while, they stumbled upon the Bizarre Room. "What is this place?...so bizarre."  
  
"It's like a kitchen." Vern said. She ran her hands along the table, and then the stove. As she passed the oven, a huge heartless came up and lighted his hands on the stove. It was the Trickmaster!  
  
"Vern, watch out!" Sora yelled, just in time for her to run out of the way as the Trickmaster slammed his fiery hands to the ground. The Trickmaster swung the flames around. The group of four battled Trickmaster. Then Sora realized he had to do blizzard to put the flames out. He cast blizzard, and the flames went out. The Trickmaster became more defenseless, and soon he was defeated.  
  
"Come on you guys, let's get out of here," said Donald.  
  
"Wait, my Keyblade is acting funny." Suddenly a keyhole appeared in the doorknob's mouth. Sora pointed the Keyblade at the keyhole, and it locked it. Wonderland was sealed. "Cool!"  
  
"Let's go, I bet Iqui is dying in the gummi ship." laughed Vern. The four head back to the gummi ship and get ready to visit another world.  
  
"How was it out there? Were the Heartless there? Did someone get hurt? Who else was there? Why did-"Iqui rambled on.  
  
"Too many questions!" Goofy yelled as he fell to the ground and shook his head.  
  
"I'll answer your questions Iqui-cool, yes, no, and other people you've never heard of." said Sora.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"We're almost at another world. I hope King Mickey is there and not those confounded Heartless!" said Donald.  
  
********************************************************* 


	4. CatFight

**AN:** Thank you Selphie Louise and Doomboy for your reviews. For anyone reading this, please check out Doomboy's fanfic: Black Orchid. It's REALLY good and he needs more reviewers! School's ALMOST out for me. Not really, but I'd like to imagine that it is. My last day is June 20th. The school year has gone by fast but still, I don't know how much more of school I can take!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Is anyone else excited that Peter Pan comes out on DVD today?! I love Jeremy Sumpter. I know he's 14 but he's so hot for his age!  
  
Rammu! E kuddy xiacdeuh vun oui! (Al Bhed translation: Hello! I gotta question for you!) Anyone out there seen Shaman King, the cartoon show? My first time seeing it was last Saturday (it was the first episode too, lucky me!) Anyways, I thought it was really cool and wanted to know if anyone else has seen it. Look at me, rambling on about things you probably don't care about-on with the fanficcy!  
  
**Chapter Four: CatFight**  
  
"I hope Riku and Kairi are there." The four stepped out cautiously into a jungle. No Heartless just yet. At the top of a tree was a huge treehouse. "Let's check that place out." They walked inside and were immediately ambushed by a cheetah. It looked very fierce.  
  
"Watch out Vern!" said Sora, pushing her out of the way as the cheetah pounced to the ground. It was fast and very slick. It looked like it hadn't eaten in weeks. Hopefully it would stay that way. It rushed towards Sora and slashed him with his claws. Donald casted a few thunders. Goofy tried defending Sora, since he was hurt. Vern got up and sent a fireball on the cheetah. The cheetah dodged the attack and was about to attack Vern when Tarzan appeared. He hit the cheetah and it ran off.  
  
"Hmph...Sabor...is...danger." Tarzan said.  
  
"Sabor? The cheetah?" Goofy asked.  
  
"Yes." Tarzan saw that Sora was hurt. "You..me...friends. Tarzan...help..friends. Follow me."  
  
They followed Tarzan to a campsite and brought them inside a tent. Tarzan took a potion from his pouch."Take...friend." Sora took the potion, and he was healed.  
  
"Thank-you for saving me Sora. I would have been the one with a wound." Vern said gratefully, with a hint of I-need-to-give-you-a-special-reward- later tone.  
  
"Have you seen King Mickey?" asked Donald.  
  
"King...Mickey? No." Tarzan said. He hadn't seen any of their friends. "My friend...Jane." He pointed to Jane, a gorilla researcher.  
  
"Why, hello. Have you come to study the gorillas, too?" she asked.  
  
"No, we are looking for our friends." Sora said. A shot rang out and everybody rushed outside.  
  
It was Clayton. "Sorry, my gun accidentally shot, but don't worry, it was pointed towards the air." Clayton walked towards Donald and Goofy. "You're a strange bunch." He picked up his backpack and walked to the hippo's lagoon.  
  
"What's the matter with him?" Donald said.  
  
"I guess he's just mad that he hasn't seen a single gorilla yet. We leave the jungle in three days." Jane said. "I apologize for his behavior. He is rather moody."  
  
"Let's just forget about him." Vern said, anxious to do something, take action. "Are there any vines we can swing on? That would be so cool!"  
  
"We don't have time for that!" Donald said, stamping his foot.  
  
"Vines...this way." Tarzan pointed to a right passage. No one would listen to Donald. Maybe they should have, but it was too late because at that moment, Sabor sprang out and blocked the way to the vine area.  
  
"The only thing we can do is fight! Let's get him!" Sora said. He ran up to Sabor, dodge rolled behind him, and slashed him with his Keyblade. Tarzan threw his spear at Sabor with high accuracy. Donald cast fire, one of the only spells he knew so far. Goofy protected Jane, and Vern was sending whirlwinds at the cheetah. What seemed like the most difficult enemy ever had turned out to be the easiest. It took away the meaning "three's a crowd." A lot of people were actually a good thing. With everyone fighting, the cheetah was defeated in a heartbeat.  
  
"Why was Sabor so easy to beat this time?" Sora asked.  
  
"Well, everyone was helping. We all had the same goal, and we didn't act prideful and think we could do it alone. We worked together, as friends." Vern said.  
  
"Wow, that's a great thing to say." Sora said to Vern. Vern blushed. She thought that even the smallest compliment from Sora was an accomplishment. "It's true though, working together that is. Well, except for Iqui, we can do without her."  
  
"And we can do without Kairi, too." Vern mumbled to herself.  
  
"What was that?" Donald asked.  
  
"Uh, I said alright, now let's go swing on some vines!" Vern said, excited and nervous at the same time.  
  
"That's not possible." Everyone turned around to see Clayton surrounded by a dozen Heartless. "I can't let you all get in my way."  
  
"Get in your way of what? Studying the gorillas?" Vern asked.  
  
"No...capturing them. And you can't stop me!" Clayton backed away as the Heartless surrounded the group. The Heartless were all small monkeys, and after the cheetah, they were a cinch. Once they were defeated, they thought Clayton's time was up, but when Tarzan ran toward Clayton, he was knocked back by an invisible force.  
  
"You cannot defeat my stealth sneak! You cannot defeat me!!!!" Clayton jumped on the lizard's back. Everyone fought viciously, and soon the stealth sneak became visible. The stealth sneak became more agile and fought with faster combos and jumps. Sora tried to get behind it, but it would always turn around and face him. So while the stealth sneak worried about Sora and his Keyblade, Donald, Goofy, Vern, and Tarzan quickly ran behind it. The huge lizard took incredible blows from weapons and magic. But it wasn't over yet. Clayton was not anxious to give up. He grabbed his gun just as Donald cast fire on him. A shot rang. Everyone ran to Goofy.  
  
"Goofy! Are you alright!" Donald screamed. He turned Goofy over to see his shield, which took the bullet and guarded Goofy's heart.  
  
"Hu-yuck, good ole shield." Goofy said, patting it.  
  
Vern wasn't about to let her guard down just yet. "Are you sure Clayton's..."  
  
"Yah, I checked. I think we better get out of this place before one of us dies." Sora said.  
  
"Wait. Come see....my friend." Tarzan led them to the Cavern of Hearts. There was the Deep Jungle's Keyhole. Sora sealed the world. "Thank-you for helping me...saving gorillas...saving Jane." Tarzan dropped an item into Sora's hands.  
  
"Thank-you...friend." Sora said. Everyone walked away both happy and sad.  
  
When they boarded the gummi ship, Iqui as usual was full of questions. But Goofy had one too. "What did Tarzan give you, Sora?"  
  
"I don't know, I haven't checked yet." He took the item out of his pocket. It was a keychain. Sora could tell its use, and attached it to the Keyblade. It became a stronger Keyblade, and it looked different too. It was the Jungle Key.  
  
"Cool! Lemme see it!" Iqui said as she reached for the Keyblade.  
  
"No, Iqui! This is not a toy!" Still Iqui grabbed the Keyblade. Immediately it went back into Sora's hands. "That's weird."  
  
"I think the Keyblade can only be yours, Sora. It chose you to be its wielder, and so no one else can even hold it for a second." Vern explained.  
  
"But why would it choose me?"  
  
"Who knows?"  
  
"The boy is here, Maleficent. Shall I bring him in?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Riku walked down a long, dark corridor. Like everyone on Destiny Islands, people had scattered to different worlds. Riku had ended up in Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resided. She did not really control the Heartless but she was evil, too. Her plan was to round up the six princesses: the princesses of hearts. With them together, she could unlock the keyhole to unleash total chaos and darkness to all of the worlds. Riku was confused and a little scared. "Um, what do you want me for?" he asked Maleficent.  
  
"I need you to round up these six girls. I will provide you with transportation and all other accommodations, you just have to bring the girls to me."  
  
"You think I'm gonna do that?! You're crazy!" Riku exclaimed.  
  
"Crazy, but smart." Maleficent brought out Captain Hook, who was holding Kairi. She looked lifeless.  
  
"Kairi!!!" Riku screamed.  
  
"You see? If you bring me those six girls, I will bring her back. I feel that is a fair exchange. You do want your friend back, don't you?"  
  



	5. Philoctetes Is No Fun!

**AN:** I'm so sorry to my reviewers! I forgot to put up a new chappie last week! I'm so sorry! So, to make up for it I'm posting two new chappies in a row! By the way, I said this before and I just want to make sure people remember: I don't go to all the worlds! It was starting to become tedious so I don't have a lot of the worlds. I think I stop after Atlantica and then go on to Hollow Bastion. Please don't be mad! I want you to be happy!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts!  
  
**Chapter Five: Philoctetes is no fun!**  
  
"We're almost to the next world!" Donald told everyone. He steered the gummi ship left and landed in Olympus Coliseum.  
  
"Can I come out this time?" Iqui asked.  
  
"You've been asking that ever since we left Deep Jungle! Every time it's been no. You think we're gonna say yes this time! Well, it's still no!" Sora said, annoyed by his sister.  
  
"Man, sometimes I think you're going backwards in the maturing process!"  
  
"Soooo.....can I go?"  
  
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!! You're driving me crazy!" Sora ran as quickly as he could so he could escape Iqui's annoyance power. Vern, Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked up to the Coliseum Gates and entered in. There they met Phil, the short, fat, and grumpy goat man.  
  
"Excuse me...uh, we were just wondering if you had seen any of our friends. There's Riku, Kai-"  
  
"I don't have time to hear you kid. I gotta get ready for the games." Phil said (remember, I said he was grumpy).  
  
"The games? What games?" Sora asked.  
  
"Ugh" Phil grunted, obviously annoyed. "The games are held here in the Olympus Coliseum. Anyone can enter and compete for the title of champion."  
  
"Anyone?"  
  
"Well, not anyone. You have to be a hero, and get a pass."  
  
"Well, we're heroes!" Sora said.  
  
"Psshh....yah right! You folks....heroes? No way are you getting into the games!"  
  
"Come on Sora, he's not worth our time!" Donald said, persistent to find King Mickey.  
  
"We are heroes! We have to prove it!" Sora said. But Donald took Sora outside the gates. They were getting ready to leave when Hades approached them.  
  
"Hey wait! I couldn't help but overhear your dilemma. I have a pass that I can give to you, free of charge." Hades said. He put his hand on Sora's shoulder.  
  
"Let's get out of here, this guy's a freak!" Donald whispered.  
  
"We'll take it." Sora said, grabbing the pass and running back to Phil. "Look, we have a pass. Now you have to let us in the games!"  
  
"What? How'd you get that? Well, alright. I suppose you guys can get a few pointers from Hercules." There was a large thud outside, and Hercules was yelling. "Oh, here he is now. Hey Herc, I-"  
  
"Phil! Hades let out the Cerberus!"  
  
"What? Aw man!" Phil stamped his foot- er hoof.  
  
"Come on! This is our chance to prove ourselves!" Sora said. "We don't need Herc! We're heroes too!"  
  
"Wait Sora, come back!" Donald yelled but Sora was already outside. He had nothing to do but follow him. The Cerberus was a huge, three-headed dog, but no commands could tame this pooch. Everyone had to learn the Cerberus's tactics. The three heads would bite, send pools of darkness that zeroed in on them, shoot fireballs, and create huge earthquakes. This was definitely not like the fight against Sabor. The Cerberus was stronger, and it would take more than just strength to defeat it. Sora and Goofy climbed on the Cerberus's back. Goofy attacked the back of the heads with his shield while Sora cast Fire and tried to attack with combos.  
  
Vern and Donald were assigned ground duty. With their magic they were able to stun the Cerberus many times. But the pools of darkness wouldn't stop. Donald was able to climb on the Cerberus's back just in time, but Vern was not so lucky. The pools of darkness would close in on her and she had no where to go. She nearly got knocked out and was on the verge of fainting. Sora decided to divert the pools of darkness away from Vern and towards him. His plan had worked, and Goofy was able to bring Vern up on the Cerberus's back. Donald cast Fire, and he could tell that the Cerberus was weak. He stopped creating earthquakes and fireballs, and he knew that Sora had to make the last hit. Sora dodge rolled to the side of the Cerberus and gave it all he had. The Cerberus was defeated!  
  
"I can't believe you guys pulled it off! Is everyone okay?" Phil asked.  
  
"Vern is hurt pretty bad. She got hit with the pools of darkness." Sora explained.  
  
"Ooh, that's not good." Phil looked worried.  
  
"Why?" "  
  
"Oh, well, being hit with darkness is never a good thing. Getting close to so much evil is intense."  
  
"Garsh, will she be alright?" Goofy said.  
  
"She should be. But you shouldn't make her fight if you plan to. The most important thing she needs right now is rest. It's a good thing she didn't get knocked out."  
  
"Well, we beat the Cerberus didn't we?" Sora said, ready to wipe the salt off Phil's shoulder.  
  
"Yah, you did. Ya know what? You guys aren't that bad. And for that, I'll have to give you all your heroes license, you're junior heroes here at the Olympus Coliseum."  
  
"Wow, thanks!" Sora proudly accepted the honor of course.  
  
"Now don't forget, you can compete in the games. The Pegasus Cup is coming up soon. We'll keep you posted."  
  
"See, Donald, I told you, it was worth it. We are heroes." Sora said.  
  
Donald still seemed down. "Well, you may be, but I won't call myself a hero until I find King Mickey and get him back to the kingdom safe and sound."  
  
"I understand. Well, can you at least say that you've done some heroic things?"  
  
"Yah." Everyone boarded the ship. Donald steered the gummi ship for the next world.  
  
"What happened to Vern? Is she dead?" Iqui asked.  
  
Sora wished that Iqui was the one who had nearly fainted. At least she wouldn't be annoying him. "Noo...she's not dead!!! She's just really tired, nearly got knocked out. She got too close to the darkness, to the evil."  
  
"Really?" Iqui said. She moved closer to Vern and reached her hand out to her.  
  
"Iqui stop!!!" Sora yelled.  
  
"What? What?" Iqui screamed, startled.  
  
"Vern's already been close to enough evil."  
  
"But I'm not- hey...that wasn't funny!"  
  
"Then why are we all laughing!" Everyone was laughing, except for Vern who was sleeping, and Iqui who didn't know how to take a joke.  
  
"You're so mean to me! I wanna go home!" Iqui started crying.  
  
"Hey, I'm sorry. But you know when those opportunities just come up and you don't want to pass it by? Hey look, why don't you make fun of me?" Sora reasoned, hoping to cheer Iqui up. It always worked when he'd let her make fun of him or give him a good punch.  
  
"Um, okay! But, I'd like to catch you off guard. It'll be sweeter that way." Sora laughed. "Alright."  
  
"Hmmm...let's go back to Traverse Town. We need stronger weapons and more items." Donald explained.  
  
"Alright, that's fine. We do need something for Vern." Sora said. The gummi ship turned around and headed back to Traverse Town. "Man, look at all those Heartless ships! More and more are coming."  
  
Thanks for reading! You make me feel good! 


	6. Some Unfinished Business

**AN:** Hello everyone! Thank you for reviewing Doomboy2000! (I never realized that you're called Doomboy2000 and so I kept calling you just Doomboy)! I don't have the internet at home still so that's why I always post it up right before the weekend since I won't be at school to post it up. I think I'm getting the internet soon (soon, my precious, soon) I say in a raspy voice. Okay, thanks for everyone's support. Are you ready to read the chappie? I think you are. On your mark, get set, GO!!!!  
  
**Disclaimer:** Don't go just yet! I still have to say this thing EVERY time! I don't own Kingdom Hearts!! At least I own some stuff from this fanficcy, like Iqui and Vern. Yay! Alright, now it's for real....GO!!!  
  
Chapter Six: Some Unfinished Business  
  
They landed the ship in the first district. They visited Cid in the accessory shop and Donald's nephews in the item shop. Vern still stayed in the ship. Even though she was healed, no potion could replace the replenishment of sleep (nourish, replenish, drink from the cup-inside joke with Heather). Iqui was still trapped inside, bored out of her mind while the others, in her opinion, were having fun. I don't think that nearly getting killed is fun.  
  
"Hey you guys, let's go visit Leon." Sora suggested.  
  
"Yah, it'll be good to see him again, see how he's doing." Goofy said. So the three go into the second district. Though they thought they were safe, the Heartless still resided there.  
  
"What? I thought that once we sealed the keyhole, the Heartless couldn't take over this place!" Donald said angrily.  
  
Sora thought hard. "Wait a minute, I never sealed Traverse Town. I never saw its keyhole."  
  
"Well, I think you will now!" Goofy said. He pointed to the fountain and there was the keyhole. "Come on! Let's go!" They ran up toward the keyhole, but were interrupted by a familiar face.  
  
"Aw man, not you again!" Sora groaned. It was the Guard Armor, back for another round with the Keyblade Master! Sora jumped up and hit the Guard Armor with multiple combos, and in a matter of seconds it was defeated. "What? He was harder to beat the first time! That was pretty easy." Just then, the Guard Armor reassembled into Opposite Armor! "I guess I spoke too soon!" The Opposite Armor was much stronger than its other form, and its arms, legs, and torso were spinning like crazy. The best thing to do was cast magic, because when they got too close they would be whacked with the Opposite Armor's limbs.  
  
"This is too...difficult!" Sora exclaimed. The Opposite Armor was no where near dead. At that moment, there was a huge gust of wind. Debris flew everywhere, and when the dust cleared, the Opposite Armor was lying on the ground. There was a figure on top.  
  
"Hey...it's...Vern!" Donald yelled. "What are you doing? You shouldn't have gone out of bed!"  
  
"It was a good thing I did, you guys were in a lot of trouble! I did a combination of a hurricane and tornado. Thought I'd try it out." Vern explained.  
  
"Well it obviously worked! Thanks a lot Vern!" Sora said. He gave Vern a hug.  
  
"Oh um, Sora? I need to tell you something, alone. I-"  
  
"Hey I've been looking for you!" It was Leon. "Cid told me you stopped by. He wanted me to tell you that Merlin the magician wants to see you. I'll show you where he lives."  
  
"Well, I need to talk to Sora first." Vern said impatiently. She needed to get a few things off her chest.  
  
"Later, girl. Right now we got work to do." Leon said. Before Sora left to see Merlin, he sealed the Traverse Town keyhole. They followed Leon through the Third District and defeated the shadows and soldiers they encountered. They walked in a secret door and across many huge stones.  
  
"Well, this is it." Leon said.  
  
"Thanks, man." Sora and the gang walked into Merlin's house. It was an odd little house, with trinkets and knickknacks. Merlin was sitting in a desk, studying potions.  
  
"Ah, Sora. I've been expecting you." Merlin said. "I can help upgrade your weapons, and if you like, you can practice fights in my arena below."  
  
"Cool, thanks. We just upgraded our weapons. I have the Jungle Key, Donald has the Mercury wand, and Goofy has the Storm shield (Donald's weapons pertain to the planets and Goofy's pertain to the sky and nature).  
  
"Well, you should stop by whenever you find a summon. If you bring the stone to the Fairy Godmother, she'll make it a summon and it will help you in battle"  
  
"Thank you very much. Well, we better be on our way."  
  
"Drop by anytime." Merlin waved goodbye to Sora. Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Vern walked back into the third district, defeated some more Heartless, passed through the now open door into the first district, and boarded the gummi ship.  
  
"Oooohhhh...I bet Vern's in a lotta trouble! Going out of the ship and all." Iqui teased.  
  
"Actually she's not. She saved our lives from a Heartless boss." Sora explained.  
  
"What?" Iqui yelled. "If that was me, I would have gotten in trouble."  
  
"Well yah. I'm pretty sure you can't conjure storms, let alone defend yourself. Vern is stronger and smarter than you are. That's why she can go out of the gummi ship." Sora said.  
  
"I hope I'm cuter, too." Vern whispered to herself.  
  
"The next world isn't too far away. It should be coming up soon." Donald said.  
  
"I want to go outside!" Iqui whined.  
  
"You can't, you're too young. You have no way of defending yourself." Sora said, trying to convince Iqui that she couldn't go out.  
  
"What if I go outside and Goofy protects me?" Iqui reasoned.  
  
"No! A Heartless could hurt Goofy and we might not be around to protect you. Iqui, I'm doing this because you're my sister. If I wanted you to die, I'd let you go out there. But you see, I don't want you to get hurt. Do you understand?" Sora asked.  
  
"Not really. If you really loved me you'd let me go outside!"  
  
"Man, you're a tough nut to crack! Just stop bugging me. The answer will always be no! Do I have to tell you that a hundred times?!"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Argh! Just leave me alone!" Sora ran up to Donald. "Can this thing go any faster! I can't wait to leave this ship! If I stay in this ship any longer I'll turn insane!"  
  
"What do you mean turn insane? You already are!" Iqui said.  
  
"What? Hey!" Sora said.  
  
"Remember, now we're even."  
  
"Oh yah, okay." Sora said with a smile. Not because she did catch him off guard, but because he could see the next world. It was a small town surrounded by desert. Everyone walked out to explore the new world (except for Iqui, who made scratch marks on the gummi ship door).  
  
"Where is everybody?" Donald asked.  
  
"Garsh, it's deserted! Maybe the Heartless scared everyone away." Goofy thought.  
  
"I don't know. But we have to look around. If we split up, it'll go faster. Donald and Goofy, you go to my left, Vern, we'll search to the right." Sora said.  
  
"Okay!" Vern said without objection. This is my chance to tell Sora how I really feel, she thought. Especially since Leon rudely interrupted her last time she tried. "Oh Sora, I"  
  
"Vern! Someone's there! Hey, who are you?" Sora asked.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Who is this mysterious being?! Hah, not really mysterious. You probably know who it is! You should! I feel kinda hyper....chocolatemonkeyonasuperdupersugarhightothemooniscoolandfunandireallyt hinkthatitsbuttsmells!!! Did you catch that last one?! j/k 


	7. Pile on the Problems!

**AN:** Hello! I decided to post the next chappie up earlier! Thank you Doomboy2000 and Selphie Louise for reviewing! I'm very grateful to have you guys stick with me! I also have a poem collection up, and no one's read it in a while. I would appreciate it if you guys would check it out! I don't know if they're any good, so I'm open for any criticism so I can improve. Most of my poems are rhyming though 'cause that's just my style. Plus I like rhyming poems better. Anyways, I would be VERY happy if more people R&R'd my poem collection. Thanks! Oh yah, I also realized that my chappies are really short. Sorry! So I'm gonna post up the chappies more often for ya guys! In case your wondering, there's gonna be 21 chappies, or 69 pages in all. So, we're a third of the way done!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Maybe I will if I win the Lottery. Or maybe I should go on a game show. Would that work? Probably not.  
  
**Chapter 7: Pile on the problems!  
**  
"It is I, Aladdin. Are you bad?" he asked.  
  
"What? No, we're just looking for our friends. We were wondering if you've seen anybody who's not from around here." Sora asked.  
  
"Nobody but you guys. Actually, I'm looking for someone myself. I cannot find Jasmine. I love her, but I can't find her." Aladdin explained.  
  
"Hey, same here." Sora said nonchalantly.  
  
"What?!" Vern yelled. "Oh yah, Kairi." Vern was about to get all mad, but then it would be obvious that she was jealous of Kairi. Please don't ask him to come along, Sora, Vern thought.  
  
"Hey, why don't you come with us. We can all look together."  
  
"Ugh" (obviously said by Vern). Now I have to talk to him later, she thought.  
  
"Thanks." Aladdin said. They walked the main streets and practically all over the marketplace, but still no sign of Jasmine, Riku, Kairi, or King Mickey. Soon they wound up right back where they started. There they found Donald and Goofy sulking.  
  
"We looked everywhere and still no luck!" Donald said.  
  
"Same here. Oh yah, this is Aladdin. He lost his girlfriend, Jasmine." Sora explained. Everyone heard a faint cry, "Aladdin!"  
  
"Jasmine?!" Aladdin screamed.  
  
"It sounds like she's over there!" Everyone ran into the plaza. There was Jafar. He held Jasmine captive and let out a Heartless, the Pot Centipede. Aladdin tried to get to Jasmine but Jafar vanished.  
  
"Jasmine!" Aladdin cried.  
  
"Come on, let's defeat this monster!" Sora said, ready to go. He slashed the centipede's tail, the nasty part. Donald and Goofy took on the body, and Donald cast Fire whenever the centipede formed completely. Vern attacked the head, which was defenseless once the tail was defeated. Aladdin, though he was upset, still worked really hard to bring down the Pot Centipede.  
  
"We have to go save Jasmine. I bet I know where she is, in the Cave of Wonders! I have a magic carpet that we can ride to get there." Aladdin said, determined to bring down Jafar.  
  
"Great! Let's go!" Sora said. Everyone rode on the carpet to the Cave of Wonders. But there they faced a difficult task.  
  
"The Cave of Wonders is already open? But, how could this be?" Aladdin wondered.  
  
"Because of me!" Jafar said.  
  
"Give Jasmine back!" Aladdin demanded.  
  
"That's all you want back?" Jafar smirked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Sora questioned.  
  
"I mean her!" Jafar pulled someone out from behind her.  
  
"Iqui!" Sora yelled.  
  
"It seems that she was too curious to stay inside. She had to take a look at Agrabah."  
  
"Give Iqui back! What do you want?!" Sora asked.  
  
Jafar smiled. "I want you."  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Sorry to leave you on a cliffie! But I like doing them! evil grin No, but I wouldn't want to upset my reviewers! Did anyone see "Uptown Girls"? It was a kind of stupid movie. I didn't really like it, but I got that song stuck in my head-"Lalalala lalalalala, sheets of Egyptian cotton!" 


	8. You're Still My Buddy, Right?

**AN:** Hola everyone! I'm so glad the weekend is FINALLY here! I'm so tired! I'm sick of school! Only 19 days left though! That's still too long in my eyes.  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Man, it gets SO annoying having to say that every time!   
  
**Chapter 8: You're still my buddy, right?**  
  
"I...I will accept your offer."  
  
"Very good. You won't regret this, Riku." Maleficent said. "I have heard that Jafar already has Jasmine, one of the princesses, captured. There's another girl too he says. But you don't need to get her. I will transport you to Agrabah, and you can bring her back here."  
  
"Alright. Are you sure Kairi will be alright?" Riku asked. He bent down and touched Kairi's hand, it was cold as ice.  
  
"Yes. As long as the six princesses come back here safely, You will have your friend back."  
  
Riku hoped that he would be able to get all of the princesses of hearts. "Don't worry Kairi, everything will be alright."  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"You want me? But why?" Sora asked.  
  
"Because you are too dangerous. You will foil my plans. I don't want you ruining it for me. After all, you have the Keyblade. A powerful weapon, very dangerous. You should accept my offer." Jafar said.  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
"This little girl will never breathe again."  
  
"I...I can't let this happen. I'm going to go with Jafar." Sora decided.  
  
"No Sora! You can't do this!" Vern objected.  
  
"I have to. Iqui will die if I don't go. Remember, they can't take the Keyblade away from me. If they do, it will always come back to me. I'll get out." Sora whispered.  
  
"Be careful!" Donald said.  
  
Sora climbed up the panther's head to Jafar. Jafar dropped Iqui down to the ground. The sand provided a safe fall. Jafar took Sora and began to leave.  
  
"Goodbye, Sora!" Goofy and Donald yelled.  
  
"Thanks for everything, man!" Aladdin said.  
  
Vern didn't want to keep it in any longer. She might not get another chance. "Sora, I love you!!!" she screamed. Sora was out of sight. She didn't know if he had heard her.  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"I'm glad you decided to come with me, Sora." Jafar said. They were inside the Cave of Wonders, in Jafar's secret lair.  
  
"Trust me, I wouldn't have come if you didn't hold Iqui captive. Man, I told her to stay in the ship!"  
  
"Ah, but that's the way it is."  
  
"Jafar, Aladdin and the others will come and save us!" Jasmine said confidently. There was a knock on the door.  
  
Jafar opened the door. "Ah, I've been expecting you. There's been a little change of plans, too."  
  
"Riku?" Sora asked.  
  
"Sora?"  
  
"I can't believe it's you! Where've you been?" They ran up to each other and gave each other a manly hug (the slap-on-the-back hug that took exactly 3.78 seconds).  
  
"I've been trying to save Kairi." Riku said.  
  
"I've been looking all over for you two! Is Kairi with you?" Sora was so excited.  
  
"Yes, but she's barely alive. I have to find the six-"  
  
"Riku, remember what Maleficent said, this is strictly confidential." Jafar said sternly.  
  
"Oh yah."  
  
"I have Jasmine. You can take her back to Maleficent now."  
  
"What? Riku, this guy is bad news. He stole Jasmine! Her boyfriend is with us trying to save her!"  
  
"Us?" Riku said, confused.

"Oh, Donald, Goofy and Vern. They work for King Mickey. Anyways, you can't take Jasmine."  
  
"I'm sorry, Sora. But I gotta save Kairi."  
  
"How can you save Kairi by taking Jasmine to, wait, who's Maleficent?"  
  
"You don't have to worry about that Sora." Jafar said.  
  
"Sora, I made a deal. Kairi needs me." Riku took Jasmine and was transported back to Hollow Bastion.

"It seems as if your friend is working for someone else. Now, what to do with you..." Jafar thought.  
  
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$  
  
Thanks again to my reviewers! ;)


	9. Grant My Wish

**AN:** Hey guys! I know you'll be happy to hear that this chappie is the longest out of all of them so far! And, I leave you on a cliffie. Sorry! Now I know why people have cliffhangers so much. It's fun! But don't worry, I'll put up the next chappie soon! Oh yah, Selphie Louise, I didn't actually have two guys hug each other and count how long it took, but I should! It'd be so weird if I was right! I think I'll do that, and I'll tell you my results in the upcoming chappie! ;) Oh yah, and I'm SOO excited because I got my ACT scores yesterday. Guess what? I reached my goal of a score of 27! I'm so happy. My sister (HisLight) got a 28! Yay!  
  
**Disclaimer:** (to the tune of "Who wears short shorts?") Who owns Kingdom Hearts? Disney owns Kingdom Hearts! (sorry, it's lame, I'm just trying to come up with creative ways to say that I don't own it!?  
  
**Chapter 9: Grant my wish**

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Goofy asked Vern.  
  
"I...uh...yah. So what?" Vern said.

"Uh, no reason!" Goofy said.

"You love my brother? That's the craziest thing I ever heard! Are you sure you're not insane?" Iqui said.  
  
"Yes, I'm sure. Just leave me alone, please. I didn't want to leave anything unsaid in case Sora didn't make it." Vern cried.  
  
"And it would be all your fault!" Donald yelled at Iqui. "We told you not to leave the ship!"  
  
"I couldn't help it! You don't know what it's like to be stuck in there, while you guys go out on all the adventures." Iqui whined (sorry Doomboy2000, there goes the whining again).

"It's not like we have a choice. There are people out there who need us." Vern said.  
  
"And for all we know, Sora could be one of them." Goofy said sadly.  
  
"I didn't mean to get Sora in danger. I'm really sorry that I went out." Iqui was actually serious for once.  
  
"Well, we have to go in there and help them. We have to save Jasmine!" Aladdin said. Everyone entered the Cave of Wonders. It was harder to defeat the Heartless without Sora, plus Goofy had to defend Iqui, so there was really only 3 people fighting. Finally they encountered Jafar.  
  
"Where's Jasmine and Sora?!" Aladdin yelled.  
  
"Oh, Jasmine is not here. And Sora, well, let's just say that he will soon be of another use. You see, the Genie still owes me two more wishes. I think I will wish for Sora to become my own genie, who grants me a million wishes. His fighting days are over!" Jafar sneered. Jafar took out Sora, chained up. The Keyblade was still in his hand, but he could not maneuver it to break the chains.  
  
"Sora!" Vern yelled.  
  
At that moment, Sora remembered hearing Vern say something before he left. He had been so caught up with Riku coming that he forgot about everything else. Did she say she loved me, Sora thought. He felt uncomfortable. I figured all the teasing that Iqui made about me and Kairi said enough, Sora thought. "Great, now I got more dilemmas."  
  
"Genie, my second wish is for you to turn Sora into a genie that will grant me one million wishes!" Genie had no choice. With one finger pointed at Sora, he did his magic, and Sora became a genie, lamp and all.

"Oh no!" Donald yelled.  
  
"Come on, we have to fight Jafar!" Vern said.

"Garsh, does that mean we have to fight Sora, too?" Goofy asked.  
  
"I guess so." Vern said sadly.  
  
Sora knew what he was doing, that he was a genie, but he couldn't control himself from doing what Jafar wished to do. The battle was on. Donald cast thunder spells on Jafar. Vern tried not to hit Sora with her hurricane attack. Goofy tried to defend Iqui, but sometimes he didn't, since they didn't have Sora helping them. Aladdin attacked Jafar when he got low to the ground, and tried to dodge Genie's attacks. Sora's attacks were grueling, too. He would hurl massive thunder balls at his friends. They finally defeated Jafar, and in doing so, Genie and Sora stopped as well.  
  
"Sora, hold on!" Vern yelled.  
  
"You cannot defeat the great Jafar! Sora, my second wish is for you to kill them!" Jafar said.  
  
"Sora! No!!!" Donald yelled.  
  
Sora could hear what was going on. He didn't want to hurt his friends.  
  
"Come on Sora! Now!" Jafar demanded.  
  
Sora was holding back all he had to not attack. Because he was not a real genie, pure like Genie, he wasn't completely controlled.  
  
"Not attacking, eh? Well, I've got something else planned. Genie, my final wish is for you to make me the most powerful genie in the world!" Genie couldn't hold back. Jafar became a powerful genie. But he was unaware that he was being controlled, controlled by his lamp!  
  
"Come on! Let's go!" Aladdin said. They rushed into the fiery pit and fought Genie Jafar. He hurled fireballs at them, and he seemed so hard to beat. But soon they figured out that it was the lamp they needed to go after. Vern sent a hurricane to the top of the pit so Iago couldn't fly so high. Donald was able to cast thunder easily, but Aladdin and Goofy had some trouble reaching the lamp. Soon Genie Jafar was defeated, but he didn't go down without one last fireball. It went swirling around the pit, and the place began to crumble. Everyone rode on the carpet's back to escape out of the Cave of Wonders. The great panther was about to close its mouth when a flash of light came out. Everyone hoped it was Sora.  
  
"Sora!" Iqui yelled. "Sora, are you there!" Everyone searched the perimeter, and sure enough, they found him, in his lamp of course. Genie was in his lamp too.  
  
"Come on, rub the lamps!" Vern said anxiously. Out popped Genie and Sora. "Well, since I'm your new master, I think I will wish for your freedom!" The chains came off. Genie got feet, and Sora returned to his old self.  
  
"Iqui!" Sora yelled. He ran and hugged her. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay." Iqui began crying. "Sora, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I'll never go out again!"  
  
"Come on, let's get out of here." Goofy said.  
  
"What happened to Jasmine? I didn't see her." Aladdin said sadly.  
  
"She's some sort of princess of heart or something. She got taken by..." Sora stopped talking.  
  
"By who?" Aladdin asked.  
  
"Riku."  
  
Iqui was surprised. "Riku? What did he say? How did he get there? Was Kairi there?"  
  
"Riku just said he had to take the six princesses of hearts back to someone named Maleficent in order to save Kairi. He said she's with her, but she needs his help. I tried to stop him but.."  
  
"It's alright. Thank you for everything. Hopefully I'll see her again." Aladdin said.  
  
"Goodbye." Sora said, wishing he could have stopped Riku from taking Jasmine.  
  
"Oh, wait. Here's something for all your help." Aladdin handed Sora a keychain. Now he had the Three Wishes Keyblade.  
  
Everyone left Aladdin. Sora sealed the keyhole, which was in the place where the Cave of Wonders was. They boarded the gummi ship and left Agrabah to another world.  
  
"Man, it's good to be in here!" Iqui said, falling on the floor of the gummi ship.  
  
"I'm sure you appreciate it much more now!" Vern laughed.

"Yah, I love this gummi ship!" Iqui said, kissing the walls.  
  
Love, Sora thought. Love? Oh no, he's stuck in a ship with a girl he doesn't like. What am I gonna say, he thought. I could pretend I didn't hear, but I'm sure she'll end up telling me anyway. I better tell her how I feel now, it'll be too awkward if I don't, Sora thought. Better for her to know I don't like her then to think I do.  
  
"Hey, uh...Vern...you got a sec?"

==================================================

Yah, I didn't like having my page break be dollar signs, so I changed it to the double lines. Aliasfan points to lines and says, "You are my squishy, and I will call you squishy, and you will be my squishy!" That line's from Finding Nemo, one of my favorite movies of all time! Nemo rules! Yay! 


	10. Break It Down To Her

**AN:** Hey everyone! Man, I tried to get these two guys to hug each other, but they wouldn't. I still want to have someone take the Manly Hug Test, 'cause I really want to know how long it takes two guys to hug! Hey Doomboy2000, maybe you can hug some guy and tell me how long it takes. Selphie Louise and I wanna know! I was looking at my stats, and I have way more reviews for my poem collection than I do for this fic. So I just have to say again, thank you for R&Ring! I totally love you guys for that! I'm still working on this fic's sequel right now (it's WAY better than this fic. The sequel actually has detail and more action and stuff). I'm currently on page 44 of the sequel. It's not quite at the part where you'd be getting to the end, but it's coming up. So, I hope you guys read the sequel too! This stupid document manager is uploading my stuff all weird. So sorry if it comes out all choppy. I don't know why it's doing that!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own KH.  
  
**Chapter 10: Break it down to her**

"Huh? Yah sure!" This is it, Vern thought. Take that Kairi, I'm stealing  
your man. He just can't resist me!  
  
"Well, um, before I left with Jafar, I...uh...heard you say something." Sora said nervously.

"Oh yah, you heard me?" Vern asked.  
  
Man, she must not be listening, I just said I heard her. Great, she's  
probably mesmerized  
by me or something. Freaky, he thought. "Uh yah, I did. Um, anyways, I  
uh, just like you  
as a friend. I mean, I guess I'm flattered that you, er, love me, but I  
just don't feel the  
same way."  
  
Vern couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh, I see. Is it because of  
Kairi?"  
  
"Yes. I don't mean to get you down." Sora didn't want to totally crush  
Vern's heart. "I  
mean, you're a nice girl, funny, smart, pretty, but you're just not who  
I'm looking for.  
I'm sorry."  
  
"Uh, don't apologize." It was hard for Vern to get any words out. "If you  
don't...like me  
like that then...that's okay." Vern had to turn away. She didn't want him  
to see her cry.  
  
"I'll, uh, just see you later." Vern said, running off into another room.  
  
"Boy, that was tough." Sora said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I  
seriously thought  
she was gonna punch me or something."  
  
"The next world's straight ahead!" Donald said. "Hey Sora, you don't look  
too good."  
  
"I just talked to Vern. You know, I had to tell her I didn't like her the  
way she liked me.  
It was painful."  
  
"That's why I'm glad I already got a sweetheart. Well, hopefully I'll get  
back to the  
castle to see Daisy. Yah know, I always had a feeling that she had a  
thing for Daffy Duck  
from Loony Tunes. Yeesh, gave me the creeps every time she watched him."  
  
"Uh, right." Sora said, slowly backing away.  
  
"There it is! The next world!" Goofy said, pointing to it.  
  
"But, that looks like an underwater world. How am I supposed to breathe  
down there?"  
Sora said frantically.  
  
"Don't worry! I'll just use my magic. Donald transformed himself into an  
octopus, Goofy  
into a turtle, Sora into a dolphin, and Vern as a seahorse.  
  
"Man!" Iqui said. "Why couldn't I have ventured out into this world! I  
could have been a  
mermaid!"  
  
"Well, you can be a mermaid here. Well, a soramaid. You see, you can  
clean up in here  
after us. You did want to be a maid didn't you?"  
  
"Stop kidding around!" Iqui laughed. "I will clean, but only because I  
went out of the  
gummi ship and nearly got you killed."  
  
"Thanks." Sora said. Things were getting better between him and Iqui. If  
only it would be  
the same for him and Vern. She used to stare at him all the time, but now  
she doesn't  
even look at him.  
  
The four left the gummi ship in their new disguises, and splashed into  
the sea world.  
  
"This is so cool!" Sora said, swimming around. "Right, Vern?!"  
  
Vern looked at Sora for a split second but turned away.  
  
"Come on Vern, there are plenty of fish in the sea! There's one right  
now!" Donald said,  
laughing.  
  
Vern swam rapidly up to Donald. "If you ever make another joke like that  
I'll cook you,  
cut you up, wrap you in little packages, and sell you to starving  
people!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Man, I'm glad she didn't go off like that on me!" Sora said, relieved.  
  
=====================================================  
  
"Excellent work, Riku." Maleficent said.  
  
"Uh, thanks."  
  
"We took care of one girl, Alice, and you got Jasmine, so you only have  
four more girls  
to go. Your next assignment won't be for a while though, so rest up."  
Maleficent knew  
what was on Riku's mind. "I heard that you ran into a friend of yours in  
Agrabah."  
  
"Yes. Is he okay?" Riku asked.  
  
"Oh sure. He's been okay, with his new friends and all. He doesn't seem  
to care about  
your friendship anymore."  
  
"What? You're lying! Sora would never do that!"  
  
"Did you see the weapon he had in his hand? That was the Keyblade. He  
stole it from  
you."  
  
Riku was a little confused. "What're you trying to say?"  
  
"You are the true Keyblade master, and your supposed friend took that  
title away from  
you."  
  
"How could he do that?!"  
  
"Well, I'm not sure. But he's not really trying to save Kairi. He wants  
to save Kairi  
before you do. It's really all just a competition for him. That's why  
Jafar had him  
captured. He's thinks he's better than you." Maleficent said.  
  
"Well, he's not." Riku said, believing her.  
  
"That's right. So if you ever run into your little friends again, don't  
go easy on him. Got  
it?!"  
  
"Got it."  
  
=====================================================  
  
Yay! I have a three day weekend, and then Tuesday's a half day! Ugh, but I have to work on this painting for art and some Spanish extra credit. When do you guys get outta school? I know some people are out already (I want to kill them j/k). Anyone excited that Harry Potter 3's coming out yet? I didn't read the books, I just watch the movies, so please don't tell me anything that happens! Have a great weekend!


	11. The Dark Voice

**AN:** Hey everyone! Sorry, this chappie's really short. But I'll post the next chappie up really soon okay? I'm tired, so I don't feel like typing much in this author's note. Oh yah, thank you to all my new reader: **Zanisha**! yay, I love you girl (but I love your fanficcy and songficcy collection more!) just kidding! I don't know what's up, but it's still doing that stupid indented split a sentence thing! Sorry! I hope it doesn't annoy you (it annoys me!)   
  
**Disclaimer:** Ugh! This is getting SO annoying! I don't own KH. Blah blah blah!  
  
**Chapter 11: The Dark Voice  
**  
"Swimming is so cool!" Sora said.  
  
"Hurry up Sebastian!" Ariel said, swimming into the tranquil grotto where  
the heroes  
were.  
  
"Who are you?" Donald asked.  
  
"I'm Ariel. I've never seen you in these waters before." Ariel swam  
around, examining  
the strange looking creatures.  
  
"We're from another ocean, uh, far, far away." Sora said, trying not to  
look suspicious.  
  
"Ariel, watch out!" Sebastian called, pointing to some underwater  
Heartless heading their  
way.  
  
"Not again!" Ariel cried, swimming away. Everyone got rid of the  
Heartless, and when  
Ariel came out from hiding she was amazed.  
  
"Wow! You can defeat those things?"  
  
"Yah." Sora said. "Oh, by the way, I was wondering if you've seen any of  
our friends." I  
wouldn't think they'd be down here, but hey, look at us, Sora thought to  
himself.  
  
"The only strangers I've seen so far are those Heartless. Hey, could you  
come meet my  
father, King Triton? Maybe you can help us with this creature dilemma."  
  
"Sure, why not." Goofy said. They followed the trident marks on the walls to Triton's palace. Vern was always at the end of the line, swimming slowly, barely fighting, and never talking. Triton sat on his throne.  
  
"Daddy, these friends here know how to defeat those creatures."  
  
"They do? Well, I've never seen them around here before."  
  
"They're from another ocean. I'll be alright. They're good. I saw what  
they could do.  
Except for you, they're the only ones who can help us get rid of those  
creatures."  
  
"You better be careful Ariel. If you put one fin out of line, your  
"friends" will be gone."  
Triton said, saying friends and making the hand gesture for quotation  
marks.  
  
"Thank you so much daddy!" King Triton allowing Ariel to go with  
strangers and be  
around danger was something you didn't see everyday. Ariel helped look  
for their lost  
friends, and showed everyone her grotto. While everyone was inside, Vern  
stayed  
outside.  
  
"Having some trouble, I presume?" said a dark voice.  
  
Vern swam up, startled by the voice. She wiped away her tears. "Where are  
you? Who  
are you?"  
  
"I can help you, make you feel better." the voice said, ignoring Vern's  
questions.  
"How can you? The only way I'll feel better is if the guy I love feels  
the same way too."  
  
"You mean Sora?"  
  
"What? How do you know about-"  
  
"I'm just here to help you. If you can't get Sora, at least get back at  
the girl who's  
holding him back."  
  
"What are you talking about? Wait a minute...Kairi. You want me to do  
something to  
Kairi."  
  
"No, that's not what I'm saying exactly. I'm just saying that I can help  
you become a  
powerful sorceress. You'll be so strong that you can do whatever you  
want, meaning if  
you wanted to get back at the girl Sora loved then you could."  
  
"How could I do this?"  
  
"Come with me." the voice said.  
  
"But, wait. They're still my friends. I...I don't know. Can I think about  
this?"  
  
"Sure. But don't tell anyone about this. I'll come back later to see if  
you've made your  
decision."  
  
"Wait, I don't know what you look like! I don't even know your name!"  
  
"My name is Ansem." 


	12. Power or No Power?

**AN:** Yay! Updated chappie! See, I told you I'd come out with another one soon! I don't know what's up with teachers. I'm getting more homework than I used to get, and this is the END OF THE YEAR! I just don't get it. Grrr...they make me mad. Only 12 more days of school, also translated to 12 more days of torture. Well, it won't be THAT bad, but still...Oh, thank you Lord! I am so happy! Know why? 'Cause this chappie isn't all messed up with the paragraphs! Hip hip hooray! (totally cheesy) It's normal now. It's not a freak! OK I'll just stop!   
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. At least I own some characters in this fic, like Iqui and Vern. Hooray! I own them! :P  
  
**Chapter 12: Power or no power?**  
  
"Wow, this is a cool place you've got here." Sora said.  
  
"Thanks. I found all of these things from sunken ships. Hey, I know where there is a sunken ship that I haven't explored yet. Flounder told me about it. Do you wanna see it?"  
  
"Sure." Goofy said.  
  
"I think people are so fascinating. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have legs?" Ariel asked, touching her fins.  
  
"Oh, yah, sometimes." said Sora, quickly glancing at Donald and Goofy. "Hey, where's Vern?"  
  
"I don't know. I could have sworn she was in here with us!" Donald said. Everyone quickly swam out of the grotto to where Vern was. She looked a little distraught, and she was talking to herself.  
  
"Vern, where were you?" Donald asked.  
  
"I was right here this whole time. I...uh...just didn't feel like going in there that's all." Vern was shifting her eyes back and forth. She wasn't good at lying, or not looking suspicious for that matter.  
  
"We were worried about you!" Sora said, swimming up to Vern.  
  
"You were?"  
  
"Yah, you could have been hurt by some Heartless, or wandered off into danger. We just want you to be safe, like I want Iqui not to wander off into unknown territory, especially alone."  
  
Wow, I guess he still cares about me, Vern thought. She started thinking about how cute Sora was, then she remembered what Ansem had said. No, stop Vern. You can't hang on to him, she thought. Vern wanted to hurt Kairi. She hated her so much that she wanted to kill her, all because of her jealousy. But she didn't know if she could trust some stranger. Plus, she was on a mission to save King Mickey, and she didn't want to leave her friends. Vern thought about this while Ariel tried to talk to her.  
  
"Hello...can you hear me?!" Ariel said, waving her hand in front of Vern's eyes.  
  
"Huh? Oh yah, sorry, what do you want?"  
  
"We're gonna go to a sunken ship and look for some things for my collection." Ariel said. They all swam through the ocean until they finally came to the ship.  
  
"This is it!" Ariel exclaimed. They went in the ship. There was barely anything there, except for some crates.  
  
"Man, guess this one's been picked over." Donald said. "Come on, let's go." When they swam out, a huge great white shark appeared, and it looked hungry (p.s. this is not Bruce, this shark is not part of the Fish are Friends, Not Food Club).  
  
"Watch out! It's a shark!" Sora yelled. The shark charged at them at top speed, breaking them apart. Vern was about to create some underwater whirlwinds when she heard the voice again.  
  
"Ansem?" she whispered.  
  
"It is Ansem. Have you made your decision yet?"  
  
"Uh, this isn't exactly the best time. If I stay here too long the shark will kill me!" Vern exclaimed looking around at her friends fighting the shark.  
  
"Not if it can't see you. I have everything straightened out for you. Right now, you're just air to it."  
  
"Wow!" Vern said. "I think I have decided, but I have a question for you. Why are you doing all of this? You wouldn't want something in return?"

Ansem's chuckle sounded so evil. "All I ask is that you use your powers that I will give you to help me."  
  
"Help you do what?"  
  
"Keep the Heartless alive. Sabotage Sora's plans."  
  
"What? Even though Sora doesn't love me I'm not going to hurt him! I've been on this journey destroying those Heartless and you want me to help keep them alive? Are you crazy?!"  
  
"Maybe, Vern, maybe (for Heavy and Doug-inside joke). I created the Heartless. Sora destroys them. I do not intend to hurt Sora. He would do much damage to me with his Keyblade anyway. But remember what I offered you. Total power. And I'm not even asking for your soul."  
  
Man, he's giving me the creeps, Vern thought. "I...I can't do it."  
  
"What? You're giving up so much power?"  
  
"I mean I can't not get more power. I want those powers, and I can't believe I hate a girl I haven't even met."  
  
"So it's a deal?" Ansem said. He finally appeared, invisible to everyone but Vern. He was tall and wore a long cloak. He reached out his hand.  
  
"Deal." Vern said, shaking his hand. Vern looked up at Ansem. She could barely make out his face, but all she could see was a devilish smile.  
  
=============================================  
  
Thanks for reading! Now please review (well, you always do!) Thankies! (oh, that's a word I made up just now.) I don't know why I typed it. I like fanfiction.net 'cause I'm learning new things, like thank you (with respect) is domo arigatou. Yah, thanks Zanisha for that info. And thanks for responding back to my reviews for NBtM! Lylas!


	13. Let's Kick Some Octopus Butt!

**AN:** Konichiwa! Oh yah, Selphie Louise, I tried to get my guy friends to hug so I could see how long it took, but they didn't want to! I begged them! So now I turn to you, Doomboy. Please, if you can, calculate how much time it takes. That would be so cool if it was 3.78 seconds! I'm still counting down till school's out. Let's see...10 more days. What?! That's too long! Ugh! I can't wait till school's out, not just so I won't have to work, but also because people will be writing in their fics more! That's always a good thing!  
  
**Disclaimer:** Many people want to own Kingdom Hearts. I hear them asking "How much do you want?" or "Can I just own Riku and nothing else?" Well, reality snaps in. We don't own it!  
  
**Chapter 13: Let's kick some octopus butt!  
**  
The shark rammed into the ship, scattering broken boards and pieces. "Man, this guy won't give up!" Donald said. The shark eventually became tired from swimming around, and when it became slow and disoriented, Sora struck it with his Keyblade.  
  
"Wow!" Ariel said. "I don't think I'm ever going to go to another ship again, at least not alone."  
  
"Hey, where's Vern?" Goofy asked. Usually she ignored everybody and didn't say anything so she wasn't paid much attention.  
  
"I can't find her, she's nowhere!" Sora said, swimming around. He lifted up broken debris to see if she had gotten trapped under them, but she wasn't there.  
  
"Man, why did Vern have to get lost. Now we have one more person to find." Goofy said.  
  
"Hey, look!" Ariel said. She pointed to a small entrance near the ship. "This is the only other place she could have gone. Let's try looking for her in there."  
  
"Good idea. I mean, where else could she have gone, and why?" Sora said. Everyone swam into the small hole and ended up right in Ursula's lair.  
  
"Ah, look who has stumbled into my lair, none other than the daughter of King Triton, the Keyblade master, and his two stooges!"  
  
"Have you taken Vern?" Donald asked.  
  
"Certainly not. I don't have time to steal girls. I am trying to take over this ocean, and bring down King Triton! I will be the Queen!" Ursula's cauldron burst into flames, and Flotsam and Jetsam began attacking. Sora cast magic on the cauldron to knock Ursula out and be able to attack her. Goofy took care of the two eels, and Donald and Ariel helped defeat Ursula.  
  
"Well, we know Ursula didn't take Vern. She must have gone out the way we came in." Sora said.  
  
"Maybe she went back to the palace, or to my grotto." Ariel said.  
  
"Let's go there" Donald suggested. The four left Ursula's lair and headed for Ariel's grotto.  
  
Ariel went in but found no one. "Nope, not here!" On their way to Triton's palace, Ariel spotted a strange opening. "I've never seen this place before!"  
  
"You mean it's never been there until now?" Sora asked.  
  
"Yah. That's so weird. Well, maybe Vern went in there." Ariel said. Everyone carefully swam inside. They didn't want to run into another secret lair or find Ursula again. But as things are, they stumbled upon Ursula, who had found King Triton's staff and crowned herself queen of the ocean.  
  
"You cannot stop me now!!!!" said Ursula, rising up out of the water and getting extremely large. Sora was in a lot of trouble. Like the Stealth Sneak, many of Ursula's attacks zeroed in on him. Ursula would try to bite Sora, and would constantly face him. It was mainly up to Ariel, Donald, and Goofy to attack this time.  
  
While Sora kept Ursula in circles, they would attack Ursula's weak spot, behind the head. They were close to defeating her, but she didn't go down without one last attack. Ursula shot out a firebeam that targeted Sora. It was too fast for Sora to outswim, and it struck Sora.  
  
"Oh no! Sora's down!" Donald yelled. He went down and brought Sora up.  
  
"Come one Donald, Sora needs to have the last blow with his Keyblade!" Goofy exclaimed.  
  
"Well, he's knocked unconscious." Donald said.  
  
"You have to do something!" Ariel said. So Donald carried Sora to Ursula, put Sora's hands on the Keyblade, and imitated an attack. Though it wasn't really Sora attacking, it still was good enough. With the last blow completed, Ursula was defeated. The staff was returned to King Triton, and the Heartless remained there no more.  
  
"Thanks for everything, Sora." Ariel said, hugging him. "I wouldn't have been able to get rid of those creatures without you! You even stopped Ursula!"  
  
"Oh, you're welcome."  
  
"I have to repay you with something. It's in my grotto. Let's go!" Ariel said. They went into the grotto and Sora received the Crabclaw keychain. Another Keyblade upgrade! The key to Atlantica was in Ariel's grotto, so when Ariel left, he quickly sealed the world. They swam to the tranquil grotto where they first were, and got in the gummi ship.  
  
"Man, it's so good to have feet again." said Sora, running around. He noticed that the ship was sparkling clean. "Hey, this place is really clean! Great job, Iqui!"  
  
"Oh thanks. You guys were gone for a long time. I was so bored, I had to entertain myself by spilling juice to clean up. But it's all worth it once I receive my tip." Iqui held out her hand.  
  
"Tip?!" Sora said laughing.  
  
"Well, even maids get paid ya know!" Iqui said, putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"Well, I don't have money, but I did manage to get some seashells for you." Sora scooped up the seashells he had gathered.  
  
"Cool! Thanks!" Iqui said. "Hey wait a minute, where's Vern?"  
  
"Well, uh, ya see, she kind of got separated from the group." Donald explained. "We were fighting a shark and all of a sudden she was gone!"  
  
"You mean she's still down there?" Iqui said.  
  
"Possibly." Sora said. "We looked for her but didn't see her. It's like she disappeared or something."  
  
"Man. Well, what're you gonna do?" Iqui asked.  
  
"Just continue on our mission. Vern is strong, she can take care of herself." Donald said.  
  
Goofy didn't doubt her either. "Yah, Vern's smart. She'd know not to go with the wrong crowd." Sora hoped she knew not to, but he had a feeling that she didn't.  
  
=============================================  
  
This chappie was just a wee bit longer than my other ones. Hope you enjoyed it! Ja ne! 


	14. You, A Keyblade Master?

**AN:** Sorry it took me a while to post this up. I've been busy with teachers giving out their last minute assignments and what not. 8 more days of school! Man, it's taking forever. I'm not quite done writing this story's sequel yet, but it's getting down to the nitty gritty. I hope you people don't abandon me or the sequel! puppy dog eyes Well, this fic isn't over yet so I'll stop going on and on about the sequel. Anyways, enjoy! Zanisha, I hope you recover quickly from the chicken pox! I think I got it when I was around 6.   
  
**Disclaimer:** I can't, don't, and will never own Kingdom Hearts!  
  
**Chapter 14: You, a Keyblade Master?  
**  
"Let's get a move on!" Donald said. He turned on the engine, and steered the gummi ship left.  
  
Chip and Dale were on the intercom. "We heard that the Olympus Coliseum has another tournament, the Pegasus Cup."  
  
"Let's go there. I'm sure we'll be the champs." Sora said. "Plus we should stop by Traverse Town to get more supplies and upgrade your weapons. I think there are some summon gems that we can give to the Fairy Godmother, too."  
  
"Alright." Donald said, turning the ship around. "Olympus Coliseum it is!" First, they got more supplies and summons in Traverse Town. At the Olympus Coliseum, Sora and the gang defeated everyone. Of course it was easy. They would always be the champs. Any detail of it would just be boring. Just one win after another.  
  
"Where are we going to next?" Iqui asked. "Are we gonna try and look for Vern?"  
  
"The radar says that the next world is coming up in a little bit. We're not gonna stop our mission to look for Vern. She could be anywhere." Donald explained.  
  
"Yah, Vern may be at the next world that we're coming up to." Sora said. Soon enough, they could see the next world up ahead.  
  
"Garsh, I don't like the looks of this world!" Goofy said.  
  
"Well, we have to go. King Mickey might be there. Or Vern. Or Riku. I don't know what got into him. But hopefully if he's there, then Kairi's there, too. Plus we're strong. We've defeated everything that's come our way. We've got our weapons, and I've got the Keyblade. How could we fail?" Sora said confidently.  
  
Donald landed the gummi ship in a weird place. It was an open waterfall, but the water was going up, not down. Also, they were able to walk on the water!  
  
"This place is giving me the creeps!" Sora said, walking across the water. He climbed an iceberg, only to discover a huge beast and Riku! Riku and the beast were talking, and then Riku hurt the beast. "Riku! What're you doing!"  
  
"Ah, Sora, you who I was so anxious to meet." Riku said.  
  
"What're you talking about?" Sora exclaimed.  
  
"I am the true Keyblade master. It is time the Keyblade is returned to me. Let the Keyblade come to its true master!" Riku yelled and he held his hand out. Sure enough, the Keyblade disappeared from Sora's hands and into Riku's.  
  
"What? T-that's impossible! I'm the one who's fought my way here with the Keyblade!" Sora sputtered.  
  
"You were just the delivery boy." Riku said. That pierced Sora hard. "Here" Riku said, pulling a wooden sword from his bag. "Go play hero with this!" Riku threw the sword down to Sora.  
  
"Goofy, you know what to do." Donald said, starting to walk towards Riku.  
  
"Garsh, I know King Mickey said to follow the Keyblade master and all, but, oh well." Goofy said, feeling a bit guilty for leaving Sora there.  
  
Donald said one last thing before he left. "Sora, cunno (means 'sorry' in Al Bhed)." Now Sora was left with Beast.  
  
"I came here, looking for Belle." Beast said. "Will you come and fight with me to get her?"  
  
"Yah" Sora said sadly. "And that means if Riku's here, my friend may not be far away." He slowly got up and picked up the wooden sword. He couldn't understand what had just taken place five minutes earlier. Sora and Beast fought their way through the strange world, which was Hollow Bastion. Finally they got to two huge doors. They were afraid of what they'd find. They opened the doors and found...Belle!  
  
"Belle!" Beast said. He ran up to her, but got locked up. It was a trick! Sora whirled around to see Riku standing there, along with his two friends.  
  
"Donald! Goofy!" Sora said.  
  
"It is useless." Riku said. "I am more powerful than you. Maleficent was right. Surrender now, or pay the price."  
  
"Wait!" Goofy shouted. "I-I'm sorry Donald, but I cannot stand here and let a friend die. I don't care what King Mickey said. I can't betray a friend. Tell King Mickey I said sorry." Goofy walked over to Sora.  
  
"No, wait! I'm coming, too. You're right. I can't stay with that guy. Sora is my friend! Plus, that Riku fellow kinda smells." Donald said as he laughed.  
  
"You will lose this fight Sora! You have no weapons to fight!" Riku said. Sora stood up confidently. "You're wrong! I may not have physical weapons to fight with, but I have the most powerful weapon of all...my heart. My friends have stood by my side. They know that we can survive if we only stay in the light. Riku, don't do this to yourself!" At that moment, the Keyblade went from Riku's hand to Sora's.  
  
"What?!" Riku yelled. He pulled out another weapon. He seemed to forget what Sora was talking about. And anger burned in his eyes. "I can't let you get away with this!" That started it all! Riku lunged at Sora, attacking with fast strides and combinations. Sora was able to dodge most of the attacks.  
  
It was easier having his buddies back. Plus they had an advantage, 3-1. Sora hated attacking his used-to-be best friend, but he had no choice. He fought back with Riku's same strategy, but with a bit more defense. With Riku attacking Sora, Donald and Goofy were able to block his attacks and hurt Riku from behind. The battle soon ended. Riku, tired and hurt, ran off.  
  
"That was painful." Sora said.  
  
"What, are you hurt? Where's the cut? Can we help?" Goofy asked all at once.  
  
"I am hurt, Goofy. I'm cut in the heart. My best friend is against me. That leaves a mark that only Riku can heal. But you've healed me in a way. Thanks for coming back."  
  
Donald went up to Sora and put a hand, er, wing on his shoulder. "Sorry for leaving." Just then, they heard footsteps. Someone was coming out from the library. They thought Riku was coming back for more, but when they looked closer, they saw it was Vern!  
  
===========================================  
  
Sorry to leave you at a cliffie, but I had to, I just had to...MUAHAHAHAHAH! strokes cat while resting in big chair in a dark room 


	15. Kiss Me, Baby!

**AN:** Yay! Since school's out for most people, they've been updating more! :) Well, I'm almost out! glares evilly at school, holding bombing plans He he he...No, any plans I'd have to blow up the school wouldn't work. My high school is really big. Many people think it's a college. The approximate number of students that go to my school is 4,500. Yah, that's a lot. And so whenever I go to my grammar school I get claustrophobic because the halls are so small. Plus it only has 3 floors, whereas my high school has 4. So I'm always expecting to climb another floor but then the stairs always end. shudder Why am I still talking about skew?!(hee hee, Doomboy)  
  
**Disclaimer:** Any attempts for me to own Kingdom Hearts would be futile.  
  
**Chapter 15: Kiss Me, Baby!**  
  
"Vern!" Donald said excitedly.  
  
"Oh, so now you're happy to see me." Vern said in a monotone voice. She slowly walked down the stairs. She seemed focused on something else. And she was. She was staring right at Sora, and didn't even blink.  
  
"Where have you been?!" Goofy asked. "We were so worried!"  
  
Vern didn't say anything until she finished down the stairs. "I left on purpose. But now I'm back, to make a proposition with Sora."  
  
"What?" Sora asked. Vern was really freaking him out.  
  
"Well, someone in Atlantica asked me to come with him. He said he would make me a powerful empress. I could do anything I wanted to, including hurting Kairi." Vern said with a smirk.  
  
"What! Don't hurt Kairi!" Sora yelled.  
  
"Calm down. I will not lay a finger on Kairi. Of course, only if you agree to come with me."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, if you decide to come with me, I will not hurt Kairi. But, you must also decide to stay with me forever."  
  
Sora thought about his options. He did not want to go with a crazed maniac who was madly in love with him, but on the other hand, if he didn't, Kairi could possibly die. "I-I will accept your proposition. I will come with you. But you must promise not to hurt Kairi! Remember, I've got the Keyblade."  
  
"Don't worry about me." Vern said.  
  
"Sora, no!" Goofy yelled.  
  
"Sora, you can't do this! We need you!" Donald exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, but Kairi needs me more. I won't let her get hurt." Sora said. He slowly trudged over to Vern.  
  
Vern thought about things. Sora still cared for Kairi. If Sora was going to be with her forever, then she could hopefully turn him into loving her. Then she came up with a brilliant idea. "One more thing, Sora. You will be with me forever. I will never go near Kairi, which means that you can never go near her. Since she will be out of your life, I will be in it. To prove your loyalty, you must kiss me. And not one of those peck kisses. It's gotta be full on!"  
  
Sora gulped. Oh great, now I gotta kiss her, he thought. But, Kairi. I need to save her. "Alright, I'll do it." Donald and Goofy exchanged glances as if saying, "Are you crazy?"  
  
Vern's lust was overpowering her. "Excellent. Well then, let's get to it!" Vern and Sora slowly inched closer to each other. They became so close that they could feel each other's breaths. Sora leaned in. Vern closed her eyes. And then...  
  
=========================================  
  
Sorry to leave you on a cliffie! I'll update soon, so don't worry! :P 


	16. Of All My Foes, A Friend Is The Worst!

**AN:** Yay! Sorry the last chappie was really short, but I'm making it up to you with this one! It's one of the longest, yay! For this story's sequel, I'm gonna try to make the chappies longer, kay? Toga! Toga! (I don't know where that came from)  
  
**Disclaimer:** Points to Vern and Iqui. I own you! Points to Kingdom Hearts. I don't own you!  
  
**Chapter 16: Of All My Foes, A Friend Is The Worst!**  
  
Their lips touched. A spark flew into Sora's mind. This isn't right, he thought. My first kiss should come from Kairi. Sora pulled away before anything could happen. A flush of relief came over Donald and Goofy.  
  
"W-what're you doing?!" Vern asked with much disappointment.  
  
"I can't do it! I love Kairi!" Sora said. Whoops, shouldn't have said that.  
  
"No!" Vern yelled. "It'll be your fault then if Kairi dies!"  
  
Sora knew his reason for breaking away from Vern. "You may think I'm hurting Kairi by letting you hurt her, but I'd be hurting Kairi more by kissing you!"  
  
Vern's eyes were now blood red with anger. "I could kill you right now. You know that? But you're time to die has not come. But when it does, I'm gonna have the honor of making it happen. But not before you see your little girlfriend die first!!!" Vern said through clenched teeth. She took one last look at Sora then flew away. Yes, flew. It seems as if Vern is learning a thing or to.  
  
Sora was so relieved that the ordeal was over. Now but he was faced with a bigger problem, keeping Kairi alive. But first he has to find her. He hoped that he would make it to her in time. He didn't even know if she was in Hollow Bastion. And he especially didn't want to see Kairi die. He knew he made the right decision, but he still felt bad.  
  
"Sora, don't make it so hard for yourself. We'll find Kairi, I know we will." Goofy said sympathetically.  
  
Donald gave a Goofy a look of uncertainty. "Yah, but will we find her dead or alive?"

==================================================  
  
Riku stepped out of the library, down some steps, and into Hollow Bastion's main corridor. Riku was having a very hard time swallowing his pride. He was just beaten by his best friend. He thought he was the Keyblade master. He used to be, at least. Because Sora gained the Keyblade by talking about the light and his heart, maybe darkness wasn't the way to go. Maybe stealing the princesses wasn't the best way to save Kairi, Riku thought. Actually, he hadn't saved Kairi yet. Riku was deep in thought. He decided to go find Sora and stick with him. Light was the way to go. He was almost out the door when he heard a voice.  
  
"You're sure you want to leave?" said the dark voice.  
  
"Huh?" Riku said, turning around. Standing there was a man. He was tall, but his facial features were hidden from the darkness, that is, all but his eyes.  
  
"I don't think you know what you're doing. Are you really sure that you want your friend to die?" the man beckoned.  
  
"Who, Kairi?!" Riku exclaimed.  
  
"Precisely. I don't think you know this. But your friend who wields the Keyblade is defeating Maleficent right now."  
  
"Maleficent? Sora?" Riku said, a little confused. "W-What do you want? What do you mean I don't know what I'm doing? Who are you?"  
  
The man stepped forward and smiled. "You see, Maleficent was trying to bring Kairi back to life. Your other friend is fighting her. Maleficent is weak, I'm afraid there'll be no one left to help Kairi." the man said, ignoring the question of who he was.  
  
"I thought Sora was trying to help save Kairi?"  
  
"Don't you see? He has corrupted your mind. If you join forces with me, we can help bring Kairi back."  
  
"I-I don't know." Riku said, unsure.  
  
"Let me tell you a little more..."

================================================  
  
Sora was in fact fighting Maleficent at that very moment. The dark man was right, too. Maleficent was weak. It took little effort to destroy her. The details of the fight would be just plain...boring.  
  
"Man, did you see what we did to that old witch?!" Donald said, jumping in the air.  
  
"Yah, that was quick." Sora said. He had just defeated another evil boss, but his mind was elsewhere. I wonder where Vern is, he thought. Sora was getting paranoid. He was expecting her to jump from around a corner and pull a knife at his throat. He had no doubt in his mind that she wouldn't slice his neck off. The three walked a little while until they came to yet another pair of huge doors. Last time we had to fight Riku, Sora thought. I wonder who's behind these doors this time.  
  
They walked through the doors and were not expecting to see many girls that he had seen along his journey. Yet they were all encased in glass, not moving. There was Alice, the girl whom he tried to save in Wonderland but mysteriously disappeared. And there was also Jasmine. He remembered her a bit from Agrabah. Then Sora saw some steps that led to a center...and Hollow Bastion's Keyhole. Everyone ran up there. A special force field blocked Goofy. And who should be up there but Kairi!  
  
Sora ran up to her. He had finally found her, but she wasn't moving. "Kairi, Kairi, open your eyes!"  
  
There at the top of a statue sat Riku. But he wasn't the same. He again let darkness swallow him up. This time he let Ansem control his body. "That girl has lost her heart. She cannot awaken. "  
  
Sora was startled by Riku's weird voice. "You-you're not Riku."  
  
Riku/Ansem continued on. "The Keyhole will not be complete so long as the last princess of hearts still sleeps."  
  
Okay, now things got even more confusing for Sora. "Princess? Kairi's a princess?"  
  
"Yes," Riksem (Riku/Ansem) said.  
  
"Well whoever you are, let Riku go, give him back his heart!"  
  
"But first, you must give the princess back her heart!" Riksem pointed a Keyblade at Sora. It was born of the captive princesses' hearts. Suddenly, Sora's heart burned. He fell to the ground, stunned. "What's...happening?"  
  
"Don't you see yet? The princess's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"  
  
"Kairi...Kairi's inside me?"  
  
"I know all that there is to know."  
  
Sora was still kneeling on the ground. "Tell me, who are you?"  
  
"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness." Suddenly Donald lunged at Riksem, but was too weak to do anything. He was knocked out and blocked by the force field like Goofy, so they couldn't help Sora. "I shall release you at last, princess. Unlock the Keyhole with your power, lead me into everlasting darkness!" Riksem lifted up his blade and was about to hit Sora when Sora heard a voice. It was Kairi. _Sora!  
_  
Sora immediately got up and blocked Riksem's attack with his Keyblade. "Forget it!" Sora said with strength and confidence. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"  
  
The battle was on! Sora cast Aeroga on himself. He wouldn't have anyone to help him this time, and he knew Riksem would be a tough opponent. Magic attacks didn't work on Riksem, which was another downside. It was going to be a battle between the Keyblades. At first Sora was more offensive. He didn't want to tire himself out, but he wanted to weaken Riksem as soon as possible. Sora gave Riksem some mighty blows, but Riksem did as well. Soon Riksem had a new tactic. He rose up in the air and bolted around the small area, becoming nearly impossible to see. Now it was time for Sora to be on defense. He glided around and tried to be as far away from Riksem as possible.  
  
Soon Riksem became tired and a bit disoriented from his attacks (which only hit Sora once). This was exactly what Sora expected. That was one of the reasons they defeated Riku the first time. Sora used Ars Arcanum on Riksem, then finished the job with Trinity. Since Sora hadn't used magic, he had more MP, which was useful in using the Trinity attack. As soon as Sora defeated Riksem, Riksem vanished, and the force field holding Donald and Goofy back were gone. Sora pointed the Keyblade at Hollow Bastion's Keyhole.  
  
"It won't work!" Sora said.  
  
"Maybe we gotta go wake Kairi up." Goofy suggested. Sora looked down to Kairi. Near her was Riksem's Keyblade. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts...I wonder." Sora walked towards the Keyblade.  
  
"What're you doing?" Donald asked frantically.  
  
"Sora, hold on!" Goofy exclaimed.  
  
Sora picked up the Keyblade, turned to his friends. He gave them his famous trademark smile (pause for giddy laugh) then stuck the Keyblade into his heart. Immediately the Keyblade broke apart, revealing the six hearts of the princesses. Then, Kairi's heart, which was in Sora, came out, bringing Kairi back to life. She awoke and looked up to see Sora disappearing. She ran to him but then he vanished.  
  
==========================================  
  
Glad I updated soon? The countdown begins...5 more chappies left!


	17. Awaken The Behemoth

**AN:** Hey everybody! How are you guys enjoying your summer vacation? I'm going to school on Thursday to take my Spanish final and that's it! I'll be home free! Yay!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything really!  
  
**Chapter 17: Awaken the Behemoth**  
  
Donald yelled, "Sora! Come back Sora!"  
  
"Sora, are you really...no! I won't let him go!" Sora had sacrificed his life to save Kairi. She didn't want it to be that way.  
  
Out of nowhere, Ansem appears. "Ah, so you have awakened at last princess."  
  
Goofy looked a little worried. "Garsh, do ya think we can take him all by ourselves?"  
  
"I don't know." Donald whispered.  
  
Ansem began to walk up to the group when he suddenly stopped with clenched fists. "Impossible." Riku had appeared, blocking Ansem from Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.  
  
"No! I won't let you...use me for this!"  
  
"Riku!" Kairi said with desperation and an uncanny arm movement.  
  
"Go! The Heartless are coming!" Riku said. The three run away, while Ansem again disappears. Many Shadows come up from the ground, including Sora, who had become a Heartless. He was falling into darkness. He was still himself, but barely. He had to find Kairi. So he went around, searching Hollow Bastion, until he heard her voice, which was outside the library. He walked up to them, but Donald tried to hurt him.  
  
"Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya!" Donald said, bonking the Sora Shadow on the head.  
  
Kairi realized that this Heartless wasn't attacking them. "Sora, is that you?" Suddenly, numerous Shadows filled the room. Donald and Goofy ran off to attack them. Kairi stood in front of the Sora Shadow. "This time, I'll protect you." But many of the Shadows were creeping up to Kairi, and at a single moment, they leapt upon her. Kairi covered Sora, shouting "Sora!"  
  
"Kairi!" Goofy yelled. But Kairi was okay. The Shadows were gone, and in their place stood Sora. He was holding Kairi.  
  
"Kairi," Sora said in cute voice. "Thank-you." Since Kairi was a princess of hearts, her light was able to bring Sora back, even though he was in the darkness.  
  
"Sora, you're okay!" Donald said cheerfully.  
  
"Come on, let's get out of here." Goofy said, afraid of more Heartless coming.  
  
"No!" Sora said, finally letting go of Kairi. "Remember, the Keyhole hasn't been sealed yet! I don't want to leave this place until I do."  
  
"But what about Kairi?" Donald asked.  
  
"I'm staying, too." Kairi said. She walked up to Sora and held his hand. "I'm not leaving without Sora."  
  
Sora smiled at Kairi (trademark of course). "Well then, let's go seal that Keyhole! It can't be too hard. We'll run into a few Heartless on our way there but I'm sure it'll be nothing big. And don't worry Kairi, I'll protect you."  
  
"Well, let me go check on Iqui," Goofy said. "She's been alone for a long time. I wanna make sure she's okay."  
  
"Good idea." Sora said. The three walked back to Hollow Bastion's Keyhole. On the way there they ran into Beast. He had reunited with Belle. All of the princesses had gone back to their lands to try and restore the peace and guard others from the Heartless. The girls' hearts would be able to protect them. Finally they had reached the Keyhole. But when Sora tried to lock it, it still didn't work. Then Sora noticed some movement...behind the Keyhole. "I think we've got trouble. Kairi, stay here, Donald and I will go see what's beyond the Keyhole."  
  
"Don't go in there Sora! I don't want you to get hurt!" Kairi said.  
  
"I'll be alright. Don't worry," Sora said confidently. He leaned over and kissed Kairi softly on the cheek. "I'll come back," he whispered.  
  
Kairi was in a daze. She knew both Sora and Riku had feelings for her, but they never really acted on it. She only liked Riku as a friend, but she didn't know if Sora had knew how she felt about him. So she mustered up all she had and allowed Sora to go inside. Donald and Sora went into the Keyhole cautiously. Inside, they found the legendary Behemoth! Immediately Sora and Donald sprang into action mode. Sora jumped on the Behemoth's back and began attacking his horn. Donald had a hard time getting on the Behemoth so he positioned himself behind the Behemoth and cast Graviga spells. It was harder because they didn't have Vern or Goofy to help them.  
  
The Behemoth began thrashing around. He whipped Sora off his back, but luckily Sora landed on his feet. They were having a hard time defeating it. But soon Sora was able to get on the Behemoth's back again, and this time he pulled Donald up with him. Together, they attacked the horn, and finally defeated the giant beast. Donald stepped out of the Keyhole first. Sora heard Kairi asking Donald if he was okay frantically. Sora decided to hurry up and get out before Kairi had a heart attack.  
  
"I'm okay." Sora said, stepping out of the Keyhole. Kairi nearly choked Sora to death by hugging him so hard.  
  
"Alright, can we get out of this creepy place now!" Kairi exclaimed.  
  
"Sure." Sora laughed. He finally sealed the Keyhole and they left for the gummi ship. When they boarded the gummi ship, they found Goofy there, kneeling on the floor, crying.  
  
"Goofy, what happened?" Sora asked. Everyone ran to where Goofy was.  
  
"I-Iqui...she's..." Goofy couldn't get the words out. So he handed Sora a small sheet of paper. It read:  
_To Sora,  
What a shame to leave your poor little sister in the gummi ship all  
alone. Since I couldn't get to Kairi in time, I found someone else to  
have some fun with. If you ever want to see your sister again, you'll  
have to pay a big price._

Sora looked up. There was something else that he was thinking about. It was the handwriting. It looked very familiar. "I know whose handwriting this is!" he said.  
  
"Whose?" Donald asked intently.  
  
==============================================  
  
Sorry to leave you at yet another cliffie! Okay, four more chappies left! Oh, so sad!


	18. Feel The Connection

**AN:** Yes, as most of you know, my computer is freezing on me whenever I try to review. Luckily, I can still post up my chappies! I'm sure you're happy about that to. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my one-shot! Oh yes, and I was thinking about this recently. I couldn't get any of my guy friends to do the manly hug test. Sorry, Selphie Louise! They just didn't want to hug in front of me or something. Guys...I'll never understand them. Oh right, hi Doomboy! :P  
  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any Kingdom Hearts characters but my sister does own some KH action figures. And we own our KH game. At least that's something!  
  
**Chapter 18: Feel The Connection**  
  
"It's....Iqui's!" Sora exclaimed. "But Goofy, how could you do such a thing?"  
  
"It was Iqui's idea!" Goofy said innocently. Sora looked around the gummi ship, found the closet, opened the door, and Iqui fell out.  
  
"You really thought I'd fall for your joke, Iqui?" Sora said, arms folded, tapping his foot.  
  
"Well...yah." Iqui said.  
  
"Wait" Kairi said. "You mean, Iqui pretended to be kidnapped by Vern?"  
  
"Yah. But I didn't fall for her trick. It's one thing to write a note, but it's another to do it in your own handwriting. I was pretty sure Vern knew how to spell "someone" right! " Sora said. "But you shouldn't do that, Iqui! I could have been scared half to death!"  
  
"I'm sorry." Iqui said sincerely. "I was just so bored."  
  
"I know we left you in here alone for a long time, and maybe you were even worried that something happened to us. But, you need to be patient. Get an imaginary friend, anything! Okay?" Sora said.  
  
"Alright. But you said the big "i.f." words. Now Mark is sad." Iqui said. She pretended to pat the shoulder of someone sitting in a chair. "Yah, I know, Mark, my bro can be insensitive at times." Everyone laughed. It was a good thing. They hadn't laughed in a while.  
  
And, they hadn't seen Kairi in a while either. It was good to have her back. Sora looked at Kairi. "Uh, Kairi, can I talk to you?"  
  
"Sure!" Kairi said. They walked over to another section of the gummi ship. Sora closed the door.  
  
"Kairi, I missed you so much."  
  
"I missed you too."  
  
"I thought I'd never see you again! Vern or Ansem could have gotten to you. And, I was afraid that I'd lose you." Sora said sadly. "But you're okay now. And now we know that we're not alone anymore. Remember, I'm always with you."  
  
"You're right. Our hearts our connected. But how can that be?"  
  
"Can't you feel that connection?" Sora said. Then he leaned over and kissed Kairi...on the lips. Oh yah, there was quite a connection there. Kairi and Sora both knew right then and there that they didn't need to share the paopu fruit together. They would be a part of each other's lives forever.  
  
After locking lips, Kairi said, "You knew you were gonna kiss me, didn't you? That's why you closed the door!"  
  
"Yah. If Iqui saw me kissing you she'd make such a big deal out of it!"  
  
"You bet I will!" Iqui said, peeking through the open door.  
  
"Aw man!" Sora moaned.  
  
"I'm just kidding. Actually, I didn't know if you were ever going to kiss her! It was pretty obvious what was going on!" Iqui giggled.  
  
"Uh...right." Sora said, a little embarrassed.  
  
"Well, I'm glad you're okay with it, Iqui, 'cause you're gonna be seeing a lot more kisses between me and Sora!" Kairi said, putting her arm around Sora (who was blushing).  
  
"Ugh, now you're giving me too much information! Love...yuck!" Iqui bellowed, running back to Donald and Goofy.  
  
"Hey, Sora!" Donald called from the front of the ship. "I can see the next world up ahead!"  
  
"He'll be right there!' Kairi yelled back. "Before you go out there Sora, I want to give you something." She dropped something in his hand. "It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me!"  
  
"I will." Sora said.  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Promise." They walked out of the room together. Goofy and Donald gave them both a look as if saying, "Iqui told us already".  
  
"Garsh, the world up ahead looks really scary." Goofy said, as the world was coming into a better view.  
  
"It does, but I know we are powerful enough to take on anything. Just remember, the light will overcome the darkness." Sora said. They landed the gummi ship in End of the World. Donald and Goofy stepped out of the gummi ship. Sora had to do some things first.  
  
He walked up to Iqui. "Iqui, I know you can be really annoying at times, but you're my sister. And I love you. I don't know why, but I feel as if this is the last world. We're coming to an end. I don't know what's gonna happen. But I want you to know that you are the best sister that anyone could ever have."  
  
Iqui was actually in tears. "Sora, I love you too! I don't want anything to happen to you. You have to remember what you said; the light will overcome the darkness. I have no doubt in my mind that you are that light." Sora and Iqui hugged. Iqui had never said anything like that about Sora. It was a very touching moment. Afterwards, Sora walked up to Kairi. "I know Iqui said that I was light, but I'm pretty sure she's wrong. The light that shines within you is so bright that I need no sun."  
  
"Sora, I..." Sora didn't let her finish. He pulled Kairi in close, and they kissed. It was passionate too, because they didn't know if it would be their last one. Sora didn't even care if Iqui was watching them, because at that moment, he felt as if he and Kairi were the only ones there.  
  
"Kairi, I want you to know before its too late that you are very special to me, and that I truly do love you, with all my heart."  
  
"Sora, I think that you'll be alright. But if anything did happen, I wouldn't go out with anyone else. No one would be able to reach the bar that you've raised so high. Sora, I love you. Everything about you sends chills down my spine. I mean, come on, you're such a hottie!" Kairi said, making Sora laugh. He hugged Kairi and then Iqui again.  
  
Goofy and Donald were staring at Sora as he walked out. "Well, that only took about a century!" Donald said impatiently.  
  
"Sorry guys, but I had to say goodbye. You have to expect anything." Sora said.  
  
"Hyuck, we understand Sora." Goofy said. "This place is really creepy."  
  
"Well then, let's go so we can get out of here as soon as possible!" Sora laughed, running into the distance.  
  
=================================================  
  
Do you know the countdown? 3 more chappies left! -sheds a tear- Oh, but at least I have a sequel. And I'm trying to come up with a plot for an FFTA fanfic! Yay! Peace out! 


	19. Double Trouble

**AN:** **_Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Selphie Louise, Happy Birthday to you!_** **_Happy Sweet Sixteen! _**Yay! Hope this is a good present for ya! d Sorry about that last chappie (it was bad fluff)! Oh yes, and I've heard of the two KH sequels: Chain of Memories for GBA and KH2. That's all I've been thinking about! I can't wait till it comes out! There's lots of pictures and information on them at ansemreport.com!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Raise your hand if you're sick of hearing me say this! –me along with a billion other people raise their hands-  
  
**Chapter 19: Double Trouble  
**  
"Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble!" Goofy said. "Look!" Goofy pointed to two Behemoths in the distance. At first they looked like they were roughhousing with each other, but then they both stopped dead and were staring straight at the trio!  
  
"That was the creature we had to battle in the Keyhole. You weren't there when we fought him. Basically you just need to climb on his back and attack from there, but last time we only fought one." Sora explained.  
  
"And now there's two!" Donald added.  
  
"We can do this!" Sora said, clutching Kairi's good luck charm. He then ran off towards the two behemoths. Donald and Goofy reluctantly followed. They reached the behemoths. It was a little weird, because the behemoths acted as if they were expecting them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave each other a nod, and they were off! Goofy got on a behemoth and helped Donald up, while Sora got on the other one. They weren't sure whether to take on one, or go for both of them, but they had to think of something fast so they just started attacking. The behemoths weren't more powerful when they were together, but they had a bigger advantage then if they were alone. The two behemoths would ram into each other, which ended up knocking the three heroes off their backs.  
  
It was tough, but soon they figured out that right before the two behemoths collided, they'd jump and avoid the shake up. Still, the behemoths had other plans in mind. The behemoth that Sora was on ran up to the back of the other behemoth and began shooting fireballs directly at Donald and Goofy! A behemoth by itself wouldn't be able to turn its head and attack anything on its back. Sora fortunately defeated the behemoth he was on quickly. Now that there was only one behemoth left, things were a lot easier. All three attacked the behemoth, and soon it was also defeated.  
  
"Garsh, I really think someone doesn't want us here." Goofy said, out of breath.  
  
"Yah, Ansem." Sora said. He looked out into the distance. There was absolutely nothing around, well, almost nothing. Nearby, Sora noticed a circle of stones. "It looks like we have to go here." The three friends walked into the circle of stones, and were soon swallowed up underground.  
  
"Whoa!" Sora said. He looked around at the vast cave. "That was weird."  
  
"It looks like we're on the top ledge." Goofy said. They all looked down to see that there were many ledges leading down the cave.  
  
Donald touched the top of the cave where they had came from-rock solid. "Guess we're going down." They hopped from ledge to ledge, fighting the Heartless that came their way. They ran into many new Heartless, such as the Invisibles and Angel Stars. After defeating many Heartless, the Heartless crest on a nearby wall deteriorated. Sora was the first one to step through it. All that was there was a door.  
  
"Garsh, this is really strange." Goofy said.  
  
"Yah." Donald agreed. "I wonder what's behind that door."  
  
"Come on, let's find out." Sora said without hesitation. He opened the door, only to find him in...Destiny Islands! Sora stared in amazement. "Is this...Is this my island?" It sure looked like his island, except no one was around. Goofy and Donald started to look around. "Wait," Sora said. "I think I know where to go." He walked up to the Secret Place.  
  
"Wait, Sora, look!" Donald said. Sora turned around and saw Riku standing near the shore.  
  
"Take a look at this tiny place. To the heart seeking freedom, this place is a prison, surrounded by water. And so this boy sought to escape his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness." Riku then transformed into Ansem!  
  
"Riku!" Sora called out.  
  
"Don't bother." Ansem continued. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness. All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."  
  
Sora had heard enough. "That's not true! The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"  
  
Ansem rose high into the air. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" Ansem's dark guardian came up from him. Ansem then dropped the ground and everyone fell down. When the ground had closed up again, they found that they were where Ansem's secret lab where he made Heartless was. It was protected by a huge white door." This is it!" Ansem yelled.  
  
The battle was on! Ansem constantly floated high up or far away, making Sora and the gang run and jump nonstop. The guardian protected Ansem sometimes. Sora began attacking Ansem. Just then, the guardian swooped down and grabbed Sora by his arms. He began sucking the life out of Sora. At first Sora was kicking furiously, but then he slowly stopped. Sora turned from his normal skin color to a dark blue. Ansem started glowing a dark red. Donald and Goofy stopped attacking Ansem and quickly ran up to Sora and the guardian.  
  
"Sora!" Donald yelled. Goofy and Donald attacked the guardian for 5 minutes, then finally the guardian let go of Sora. Sora lay motionless on the ground. They ran up to Sora. His body was totally black, and he wasn't breathing.  
  
Ansem floated up above them, laughing. "You really though that you could beat me?" Ansem's voice sounded half his, half Sora's. "My guardian sucked the life out of Sora and gave me his power. The Keyblade Master is no more!"  
  
"No! It can't be!" Goofy cried out.  
  
================================================  
  
I think the next chappie is short, like two pages or something. Sorry to leave you at another cliffie. In the sequel I won't do that as much (unless you like cliffies which I doubt you do). Countdown: 2 


	20. She's Back!

**AN:** Hey guys! Oh, I'm so sad, the next chappie is the last...wait, why am I sad? I still have the whole sequel! Yay! Sorry if the battle is confusing and stuff. Hopefully you'll understand the rest of the story. Thank you Zanisha for reading my DDR fic! I'm gonna try to post the second chappie today too!  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts! –never gets old- j/k  
  
**Chapter 20: She's Back!!**  
  
Ansem was about to tell the guardian to drain the life out of Donald and Goofy, when something happened. Usually, when Ansem had taken someone's life, he got their power. But with Sora, he not only got his power, he got his heart. Because the light in Sora's heart overpowered the darkness in his heart, he was not affected fully by Ansem's attack. Instead of just taking Sora's spirit, Ansem took along Sora's entire body. Sora was too strong to be controlled by Ansem as Riku was.  
  
Ansem grew stiff. Suddenly, his body began to stretch. His chest started to bulge out...in the shape of a fist. Then Ansem's head exploded as the Keyblade ripped through it. Sora punched through Ansem's chest and kicked his legs out. Out of Ansem came Sora! The guardian disappeared. Then, the black Sora on the floor, melted until only the skeleton was left, then it caught fire and disintegrated.  
  
"Sora! Are you okay?!" Donald asked.  
  
"Yah, I'm fine." He hugged both Donald and Goofy.  
  
"What happened?" Goofy asked in both excitement and confusion.  
  
"I don't really know exactly. I know that the guardian grabbed me and began taking my energy. I got so tired that I couldn't kick anymore-or breathe. I could feel something happening to my body. It felt like my soul left me. Then I woke up. I was scrunched up in a dark place. Then I heard Ansem's voice. For some reason, I could hear what he was thinking. He was about to send the guardian on you guys. I could see through Ansem, too. So I slowly stretched my arms and legs, and broke through Ansem."  
  
"Garsh, that's really scary. I guess that's what happened to Riku, too. Except Ansem didn't take Riku's heart and body, so when Riku left Ansem, he didn't physically break through Ansem in Hollow Bastion like you did."  
  
"I guess this Keyblade has more uses than one!" Sora said. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Well, Ansem's gone. What are we gonna do next?"  
  
"Yes, what are you going to do next?" A voice said from behind them. A very familiar voice. Everyone turned around to see Vern! She didn't look the same at all. She had on a long, ripped black dress. Her hair was black instead of brown, and it hung down, covering up part of her face. Even her make-up was black-her lipstick, eye shadow, and nail polish. She looked like one mean girl, but she had a smile on her face.  
  
"Vern!" Sora said, a little intimidated by her appearance. "W-what're you doing here?"  
  
"I told you in Hollow Bastion that your time to die had not yet come. Well, my dear boy, it is time." She raised high up into the air like Ansem had done. She raised up her hands, blew fire into them, and then drew the Heartless Insignia with the fire in the air. The strange thing was that the fire stayed in the air. Then Vern screamed. The sound pierced everyone's ears. The scream was so high and screeching, it was like no other scream that anyone would ever hear times a million. Then Vern flew through the Heartless Insignia. She started turning her hands. Clouds started to form...underground! Sora, Donald, and Goofy could not reach Vern where she was. Since she used and controlled magic as an empress, she couldn't be hurt by it, so all they could do was stay still and watch Vern. Even if they could attack Vern, they still wouldn't move. That's how scary everything was.  
  
The clouds were dark, and soon it began raining. Vern was conjuring a storm! Suddenly, a lightning bolt shot out from one of the clouds. It was headed straight for whatever was metal. Part of the Keyblade was metal. Everything happened so fast. Sora was pushed out of the way, and someone grabbed his Keyblade. Everyone heard the lightening strike something, but they weren't sure what or who was affected by it. There was smoke everywhere. When the smoke cleared. Sora, Donald, and Goofy got up. Kairi was also with them.  
  
"I-I tried to stop her..." Kairi said sadly.  
  
Sora looked to see Iqui, lying on the ground, holding the Keyblade. "Nnnooo!!!" The weird thing was, Vern was gone without a trace. The clouds and the Heartless Insignia were also gone. Sora ran up to Iqui. "Iqui, speak to me!" he said through tears.  
  
================================================  
  
Sorry to leave you guys at a cliffie! At least it'll be the last cliffie ever for FDTA! Countdown: **1**


	21. Kingdom Hearts

**AN:** I can't believe it's the end! Oh yes, and Doomboy2000, the name thing is for the sequel, End This Requiem, not for this fic. So you'll have to wait a bit!  
  
**Disclaimer:** Wow, this is the last time in this fic that I'll say that I don't own Kingdom Hearts!  
  
**Chapter 21: Kingdom Hearts**  
  
"Sora?" Iqui managed to get out.  
  
"Iqui, why did you do that?!"  
  
"Sora...I...know you...needed to be...safe." Iqui said slowly through breaths.  
  
"You're...the Keyblade Master." Iqui said. Everyone was crying.  
  
"Iqui, don't die on me! Don't die on me!" Sora cried out.  
  
"Sora...don't worry...I'll be alright. I-I...love...you." Iqui said with her last breath. That was it, she was gone.  
  
"Nnnoooo...Iqui....no!" Sora cried, kneeling on the floor, hugging Iqui.  
  
"Sora, I'm so sorry." Kairi said. She rested her hand on Sora's shoulder. Then, from the distance, they saw Riku and King Mickey, standing in front of the huge door. Riku and Mickey ran up to the group.  
  
"Your Majesty!" Donald exclaimed.  
  
King Mickey went up to Sora. "Sora, everything will be okay." he said in a calm voice.  
  
"How can that be? My sister is dead!"  
  
"Not exactly." Mickey said.  
  
"W-what do you mean?"  
  
"You have heard the term Kingdom Hearts before, right?"  
  
"Sure I have." Sora said, still holding Iqui in his arms.  
  
"Well, there is more to Kingdom Hearts than just the door. There are guardians to Kingdom Hearts. Only those who use light over darkness, even if it means sacrificing themselves, can be one. With that said, your sister is the first person to be a part of Kingdom Hearts. These people are guardian spirits that protect the Keyblade bearer and the Door to the Light."  
  
"You mean, Iqui will protect me?"  
  
"Yes, and me too." Mickey said. Then he pulled out his Keyblade. "In order to officially make her a Kingdom Hearts guardian, we must take her soul out from her body. All we have to do is point our Keyblades at her, and she will escape from her body and go to wherever she needs help."  
  
"O-okay." Sora said. They pointed their Keyblades at Iqui, and then they saw her spirit escape from her body. It still looked like Iqui, except you could see through her. She smiled, and then disappeared.  
  
"She's okay." Mickey said. "You have a great sister. She gave up her life for you. That was her choice, so don't feel guilty."  
  
"Wait, but what happened to Vern?" Sora asked.  
  
"After Iqui gave up her life and became a part of Kingdom Hearts, Vern's power went away. She was gaining the power from the Door to the Light, but now that someone is protecting it, she can no longer feed off its power."  
  
"But is Vern still out there? What about Ansem?" Goofy asked.  
  
King Mickey explained. "They are probably out there somewhere. But if we seal the door to the light, they can do no more destruction. We just need to make sure that the worlds stay separated. This door here, behind it, there is another door. It is the door to the light. But we need to seal it with both Keyblades. That's why I couldn't seal it. I needed your Keyblade, too."  
  
Everyone walked up to the door. King Mickey and Sora raised up their Keyblades. "Goodbye, Donald and Goofy, I'm really gonna miss you. Thank you for everything." Sora said.  
  
"We'll miss you too." they said in unison. The Keyblades activated, and the door to the light was sealed. Immediately, the ground broke apart-Riku, Sora, and Kairi on one side, and King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald on the other side. Destiny Islands was starting to form. It seemed to take a lifetime, but soon they were out of sight, and Destiny Islands was completely reformed. The three friends didn't have a chance to talk or do anything, so the first thing they did was hug.  
  
"Riku, I'm so glad you're okay. I didn't know if you were still alive!" Sora said.  
  
"Well, after you broke through Ansem, I was able to escape him too." Riku explained.  
  
"We're all together again, you guys!" Kairi exclaimed. She was so happy to be home on Destiny Islands with Riku and Sora safe.  
  
"But, Iqui isn't with us." Sora said sadly. Sora was so glad to finally be back home. It was everything that he had wanted. He had wished everyday to be able to go home. But because Iqui wasn't with him, he wasn't as happy as he'd hoped.  
  
"Yes she is, Sora! She's protecting you. Wow, the first person to be connected to Kingdom Hearts-that's something to be proud about."  
  
"Yah. I still am sad though, but at least she's okay." Sora said, trying to be happy.  
  
"Let's just hope nothing like this ever happens again." Riku said.  
  
"Yah." Sora said, looking up at the sky. "But if it does, we'll be ready."  
  
"I don't want Ansem or Vern to be alive. I don't want the Heartless to destroy any worlds. I just want the darkness to end." Kairi said.  
  
"Maybe it already has." Sora explained. "There's less darkness than there was before, which means that there is more light. It's possible that the worlds, and our hearts, have gone from darkness to aureate." Sora, Riku and Kairi took their first real glimpse of their home. Everything seemed so foreign to them: the sun, the sand, everything. We will eventually get used to it all again, Sora thought to himself. I just wish Iqui was here with us.  
  
A voice swirled in the breeze as Sora walked with his friends that day, and it seemed to be saying...Death is not the end, it's just a pathway to a new beginning...  
  
==================================================

So comes to an end my first fanfic! Well, I'll be putting the sequel up very soon, probably today! So be on the lookout. Thanks again to all my reviewers, I really appreciate you guys sticking with me:  
  
**Doomboy2000:** You've been a great reviewer and I just love your fic. Thanks for everything!  
  
**Selphie Louise:** Thanks for all of the advice and support that you have given me. Your reviews have brightened my day. I'm glad that you decided to stick with this fic!  
  
**Zanisha:** You came into this fic later on, but you still reviewed. I love your stories and always will, and I thank you for reading mine. Sorry, I didn't mean to kill off your favorite character! But Iqui will be in some parts of the sequel-oops, did I say that out loud?   
  
Hopefully all of you will read the sequel. I know three reviewers isn't a lot, but I'm very grateful for it. Thank you all! I love you guys!  
  
:::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::

:::::::::::::

::::::::::::

:::::::::::

::::::::::

:::::::::

::::::::

:::::::

::::::

:::::

::::

:::

::

:

::

:::

::::

:::::

::::::

:::::::

::::::::

:::::::::

::::::::::

:::::::::::

::::::::::::

:::::::::::::

::::::::::::::

:::::::::::::::

**The End**


End file.
